Delhi: Nursery to class 8 students return to school today as physical sessions resume

All schools in Delhi were shut in late December last year following the outbreak of the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

Schools for students from nursery to class 8 in Delhi will reopen on Monday amid a significant improvement in the overall Covid-19 situation in the national capital. The decision to resume the offline mode of learning was announced by the Delhi government in January.

The decision to resume the offline mode of learning was announced by the Delhi government in January. (File photo. Representative image)

All schools in Delhi were shut in late December last year following the outbreak of the fast-spreading Omicron variant.

According to guidelines issued out by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), schools have to ensure regular sanitisation of the premises, thermal scanning, wearing of masks, adequate availability of soaps and hand sanitisers and staggered lunch breaks among others.

School authorities have to also ensure that teachers and other staff members are vaccinated. They are free to decide on the number of students they want to accommodate based on their infrastructure, but have to follow Covid-appropriate behavior at all times.

Speaking to news agency PTI on Sunday, Aparajita Gautam, president of the Delhi Parents Association, said many parents are apprehensive to send their children who are in junior classes as they have not been inoculated.

Parents have also demanded that schools should resume their transportation services for students. “I would want to send my child but schools have not started transportation yet and I am scrambling to make other logistic arrangements. When schools reopen, the government should also order resumption of transportation services,” parent Anil Bhati told PTI.

Even though the Union government has dropped the clause of a mandated parental consent for their children to attend offline classes, the Delhi government is continuing with it.

On February 7, physical classes resumed for students of classes 9-12. The Delhi government has, however, said that the hybrid model of education for all classes will continue.

(With agency inputs)