School auditoriums get nod to open with 50% capacity

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) in its order, however, reiterated that classes will continue online.

With the city’s Covid-19 caseloads at levels not seen since the early days of the pandemic in April last year, the state disaster management body in an order issued on Saturday allowed auditoriums and assembly halls in the city’s educational institutes to hold training and meetings with a 50% seating cap from Monday, even as the Delhi government on Sunday said it will start preparations to reopen schools in the Capital. The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) in its order, however, reiterated that classes will continue online.

Schools in Delhi were allowed to open in January for students due to appear in the classes 10 and 12 board exams. (Sanjeev Verma/ Hindustan Times))

“Owing to the considerable decline in Covid-19 cases in Delhi and overall improvement of the situation, DDMA removed academic and training activities from the list of completely prohibited activities,” the government said in a statement on Sunday. “This decision will give a boost to the Delhi government’s ongoing education projects like teacher training...,” it added.

The national capital was locked down from April 19 as a brutal fourth wave of infections spread its footprint in the city, and stretched health care infrastructure to the brink. Over 760,000 people were infected between April and May, and more than 13,100 died.

The state government started lifting these restrictions from the first week of June, as cases ebbed and hospital beds freed up.

The Delhi government in a statement on Sunday said it will start preparing and planning for reopening of schools in the national capital.

Schools in the national capital have mostly been shut since March last year due to the pandemic, and classes and other teaching and learning activities have broadly shifted online in that time.

Though the Delhi government allowed in-person lessons in January this year for students due to appear in the Class 10 and 12 board exams, as well for remedial and practical lessons for students in classes 9 to 12, this was cut short as the fourth wave of infections began to spread in the city.

The state education department will also hold discussions on the same with stakeholders during the two-week parent-teacher meeting scheduled between July 19 and 31.

In order to help parents support their children during the continued online learning this academic session, deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on June 30 announced that public schools in the city would hold a two-week special parent-teacher meeting beginning July 19. This would also be a first time when government school teachers would collaborate with their municipal corporation schools counterparts to speak to parents of class 6 students.

The DDMA’s order added that all social, political, sports, entertainment, cultural, religious festivals and other congregations will remain prohibited, and cinema halls, multiplexes, and amusement parks will continue to stay shut. Buses and Delhi metro trains will continue to operate at 50% capacity along with restaurants and bars which are only permitted to use only 50% seating space.