E-Paper
Coronavirus outbreak: Delhi govt shuts all schools, postpones annual exams
Coronavirus outbreak: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made the announcement on Thursday -- a day after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared that it would postpone the ongoing board examinations till March 31.
The Delhi government on Thursday postponed the ongoing annual examinations in city schools and directed all educational institutions in the national capital to remain shut till March 31, both for students and staff, in a bid to contain the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal made the announcement on Thursday -- a day after the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) declared that it would postpone the ongoing board examinations till March 31.
The Union ministry of human resource development had on Wednesday directed all the states to shut down all schools till March 31 because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
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The ICSE 2020 exams for class 10 have been postponed, a notification released by the Council for Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) said. The ICSE board examinations were scheduled to end on March 30.
“In view of the spread of Covid-19 and for taking precautionary measures, all the heads of government, government-aided and unaided private recognised school, of the Directorate of Education, and local bodies i.e MCDs, NDMC and Delhi Cantonment Board are informed that all the above said schools will remain closed for all the students, head of schools, teaching and non-teaching staff from March 19 to March 31 [both days inclusive],” said Binay Bhushan, director of Directorate of Education (DoE). 
“The ongoing annual examinations are also postponed from March 19 to March 31. However, evaluation work of annual examinations have to be carried out by the teachers from their homes,” he added.
The DoE said that the revised schedule for conducting the common annual school examination in all schools in riot-hit north-east Delhi have also been postponed. 
The DoE has asked all head of schools and staff to be available on phone, stay at home and remain connected with each other.
They have also been asked to remain in touch with students through electronic media. “Also, they [teachers] should remain at home and not leave station without prior permission and be available for duty at any time, if required,” Bhushan added.
