Delhi: Some schools yet to reopen. Here's why

Schools in Delhi were briefly reopened before being closed again on December 28 last year in view of the third wave of Covid-19 driven by the Omicron variant.

The schools in national capital Delhi reopened on Monday, welcoming students after a gap of more than a month. Delhi government has ordered reopening the schools for classes 9-12 after an order by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) following a dip in the daily number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases.

Bags kept for sanitisation as students wait to enter classrooms after schools reopened for 9th to 12th standard students, following ease in Covid-induced restrictions in New Delhi on Monday. (PTI Photo)

But some schools are still working out modalities like consent of parents and transport availability.

"We are yet to reopen because there are a lot of modalities. The board classes are nearing their exams so the attendance is going to be thin. Also, providing transport for students is difficult, so we are still working out the details. We will have a plan in two days," the vice principal of a top private school told news agency PTI.

While the Centre has dropped the mandatory parental consent for students to physically attend schools from its guidelines and left it to the states, the Delhi government has decided to continue with it.

There is no cap of 50 per cent student strength and schools are free to decide the number of students based on their infrastructure so that the Covid-19 protocols are followed.

Meanwhile, in schools which reopened on Monday, children were seen wearing masks. Their bags too were sanitised as the students entered school premises.

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal shared some photos of children being welcomed at different schools.

"Happy to see children back in school again. They were also unhappy. I pray that the need to close schools does not arise again," he said in a tweet posted in Hindi.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia visited a few schools and interacted with students.

Amid the declining number of Covid-19 cases in the city, the DDMA on Friday decided to reopen higher education institutions and coaching centres along with schools for classes 9-12 from February 7. It further ordered reopening of schools for students from nursery to Class 8 from February 14.