Delhi schools to reopen from Nov 1, classes to function in hybrid mode: Manish Sisodia

In a key development, the Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi Manish Sisodia has announced that all Delhi schools will reopen from Monday, November 1, but, "schools shall also continue online classes for the students who are not willing to attend classes offline". This came after the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) expert panel suggested resuming schools for 6th to 8th standard students in Delhi with 50% of the total strength. The expert panel observed that there was no spike in COVID cases after the state government resumed offline classes for 9th to 12th. 

According to the latest guidelines, all schools in Delhi will have to follow a hybrid model of teaching, where coming to school is not mandatory for students. The school authorities have also directed them to follow COVID-appropriate measures and staff members have been asked to get fully vaccinated before coming to school. While addressing a press conference on Wednesday, Sisodia also made announcements regarding Chhath Puja. He said the Delhi government will allow everyone to celebrate Chhath Puja but in accordance with strict COVID-19 norms and only in those spots decided by the government beforehand.

Reopening of Delhi Schools

Earlier, the Delhi Disaster Management Authority held its 25th meeting on September 29 to discuss the COVID-19 situation in Delhi, and a few insights from the meeting were given on Tuesday. The director for education had said at the meeting, "No reported instance of any increased local transmission of COVID-19 in Delhi due to reopening of schools for classes 9 to 12. There has been a steady increase in the attendance of students (approximately 80 per cent) physically attending schools. Other experts present at the meeting also highlighted that the next two to three months are very critical in view of festivals like Navratri, Dussehra, and Diwali."

According to the government's latest guidelines, coming to schools is termed as a voluntary decision and no students can be forced to attend offline classes. Meanwhile, COVID cases are on the decline in the National Capital. In the last 24 hours, Delhi recorded 41 fresh COVID cases, which is the highest in 22 days, taking the total number of COVID cases to 14,39,630, followed by 25,091 total death cases.

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