Delhi will reopen schools after monitoring situation in other states, says Kejriwal

Arvind Kejriwal had said last week that the government is concerned about a possible third wave of coronavirus and will not be opening schools before vaccination is completed

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal told reporters on Friday that his government will keep an eye on the states where schools are being reopened to learn about their experiences before deciding on when to reopen schools in the Capital. Kejriwal insisted that the schools should ideally only be opened after vaccination has been done. "The ideal situation would be to open schools after vaccination. We will see for some days the experiences of other states where schools are opening and then decide. Parents are still worried about their child's safety," he told reporters.

"We will see for some days the experiences of other states where schools are opening and then decide. Parents are still worried about their child's safety," Arvind Kejriwal told reporters (HT Photo)

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo had said last week that the government is concerned about a possible third wave of coronavirus and will not be opening schools before vaccination is completed. Schools in the national Capital were shut in the wake of the second wave of the pandemic after some classes were briefly resumed in February this year. Starting from September-October last year, states partially resumed physical classes which had to be suspended again in March-April this year.

With many experts insisting that the third wave can be brutal for children, the largest unvaccinated population, the opening of schools has become a contentious issue. The states of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Rajasthan for classes 9 to 12 in the July-August period as cases have once again started to fall. All India Institute of Medical Sciences director Dr Randeep Guleria cautioned that schools should only be opened in areas where the positivity rate is low, staff are vaccinated and should be shut down if the positivity rate starts to go up again. He also urged authorities to monitor children so that the ones who show symptoms of coronavirus can be isolated and treated.