After Covid-19 surge, all schools in Delhi closed

It was, however, not immediately clear if the order will affect the CBSE board examinations for Class 10 and 12 students that are scheduled to be held next month.

In the wake of a sharp spike in Covid-19 cases in Delhi, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Friday announced the closure of all schools and colleges in the city, suspending all in-person academic activities until further orders.

Most of Delhi’s 2,168 schools are affiliated to the CBSE, which had announced last year that it will conduct practical exams from March till the last theory paper in June. (HT Photo)

It was, however, not immediately clear if the order will affect the CBSE board examinations for Class 10 and 12 students that are scheduled to be held next month. While the board’s controller of examinations could not be reached for comment, a senior CBSE official who asked not to be named said it was too early to comment on any potential changes to the examination schedule. “We have said before that schools must comply with state guidelines and Covid-19 protocols. If the Delhi government has asked for the closure of schools, the orders should be followed. The decision on practicals and other matters [including board exams] can be taken later.”

The central board has so far maintained that it will not conduct exams online. On Thursday, it announced that it will increase the number of examination centres by 2,500 this year to ensure social distancing and other Covid-protocol during the board exams.

“Due to increasing Covid cases, all schools (including government and private) in Delhi are being closed for all classes till further orders,” Kejriwal tweeted on Friday when the Capital recorded its second highest ever single-day increase in cases at 8,521. The government order came after a Covid-19 review meeting of the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA).

In a directive issued on Friday evening, director of education Udit Prakash Rai said, “In view of the sudden surge in the cases of Covid-19 in Delhi, all the heads of government, government-aided and unaided recognised schools are hereby informed that conduct of all academic and examination activities through physical mode shall remain suspended with immediate effect till further orders.”

“They are further directed to ensure that no student of classes 9 to 12 is called to school in person for any kind of academic or examination activity like practice of practicals, mid-term and annual examination related work i.e., practical, project submission, assessments, etc. till further orders,” the order read.

On April 1, the Delhi government announced that all academic activities for the new academic session beginning in April will continue online across classes in private and public schools. However, students of classes 9 and 11 of the previous academic session (2020-21) were allowed to visit schools for their internal exams, and students of the outgoing classes 10 and 12 could visit schools for board practicals and pre-board exams.

Awadesh Kumar Jha, principal of Sarvodaya Co-ed Vidyalaya in Rohini Sector 8, said, “This was a necessary step. We had parents requesting us to cancel or postpone internal exams, fearing for the safety of their children amid rising Covid-19 cases. Though school authorities are able to enforce Covid protocols inside the premises, overcrowding outside schools could have put children at risk.”

Most of Delhi’s 2,168 schools are affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), which had announced last year that it will conduct practical exams from March till the last theory paper in June. Theory exams for both Class 10 and 12 students are slated to begin in May. While private schools are mostly done with their Class 9 and 11 internal exams, government schools were currently busy in finishing the mid-terms of these classes with the finals scheduled in May.

Mary Jyotsna Minj, principal of Government Girls Senior Secondary School in New Kondli, said schools will now have to wait for clarity on promotion and assessment for Class 9 and 11 students. “Of the 17 subjects in Class 12 which had a practical component, we have conducted exams for only a handful as we were waiting for our mid-terms of classes 9 and 11 to get over by mid-April. Since we had time, we were planning to conduct the rest of the practicals after that. Now with cases rising again, we don’t know what to do and have to wait for further instructions.”

While Minj suggested that CBSE might consider forming a revised assessment policy like last year for the board students as they had little practice for the practical exams, Jha said even an extension could work.

“CBSE has said that they can conduct practical exam till the end of theory papers which will be around mid-June. If they could extend the dates further till the end of June, we could conduct the remaining practical tests in around two weeks,” said Jha.

Private schools also endorsed the government’s decision, especially after reports of some students testing positive for Covid-19 after attending offline classes. Alka Kapur, principal of Modern Public School in Shalimar Bagh, said, “We have conducted all practicals except one. It will be disturbing for students who have not appeared for the practicals, so schools have to counsel them and tell them that their safety is of prime importance. The current strain is affecting youngsters, so we have to take all precautions. As far as holding theory exams are concerned, it is almost a month away and it is early to comment on them.”

A senior education department official said the Directorate of Education will take a decision on the suspended academic activities when the schools reopen. “Exams and syllabus become trivial issues when compared to health and safety of children. As of now, all offline academic activities stand postponed and we will make the decision on how to proceed later when the Covid-19 situation is better.”

Twisha Kacker, a Class 12 student at The Indian School, said her three practicals are pending due to the closure of schools. “While some of my friends are happy to get some time to prepare for the practicals, many just want to get it over with. I personally wanted to focus on my theory papers after finishing practicals which help us score more,” she said.

Parents welcomed the government’s order which comes a day after Delhi Parents’ Association writing to the government demanding closure of schools. “Though some practicals are pending, we believe authorities can figure out alternate ways to conduct practicals or viva using smartphones or through voice calls with students of both government and private schools,” said association president Aprajita Gautam.