Schools for Classes 9-12 to reopen from Monday, nursery to Class 8 to reopen after a week
All schools and colleges will reopen in Delhi from Monday, February 7. This announcement came after a meeting of the DDMA.
In the first phase, classes for grade 9-12 will be resumed in a ‘hybrid model’ and in the second phase classes for nursery to grade 8 will resume from February 14, according to Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia.
All classes at Delhi colleges will be conducted in offline mode from February 7 onwards. Sisodia went on to say because the positivity rate has dropped significantly and the majority of the population, including children aged 14 to 18, has been vaccinated, we are now in a position to relax Covid restrictions.
Sisodia said: “Prolonged school closures have resulted in significant learning losses among students of all ages. Students’ social and emotional well-being has also suffered. Thus, reopening schools is an urgent necessity. Classes in a ‘hybrid model’ for students in grades 9-12 will resume on Monday, February 7, and will gradually transition to a completely offline mode in the coming weeks.”
In the second phase classes for grade nursery to 8 will resume from February 14. He went on to say that because the positivity rate has dropped significantly and the majority of students in grades 9-12 have been vaccinated, we are now in a position to relax Covid restrictions. Schools and colleges have been asked to prepare for the return of students in this sequence. The administration must ensure that all staff are fully vaccinated at the campus, especially those dealing with students of class nursery to 8.
The Deputy Chief Minister said: “The colleges have been closed for a long time due to Covid, and the entire college life and campus has been reduced to a single room in the house. As a result, it has been decided that all colleges in Delhi will reopen on February 7, and studies will be completely shifted from online to offline mode. In this sequence, it was decided at the DDMA meeting that skill training institutes and coach institutes could reopen on Monday.”
Offices to operate at 100 per cent capacity and timings of night curfew also revised.
While announcing the relaxations in Covid restrictions on Friday, the Deputy Chief Minister said the timing for night curfew has been revised and now it will be implemented from 11pm to 5am. This will also have an impact on restaurant hours, as they are now permitted to operate until 11 p.m. Earlier, police officers on duty instructed restaurant owners to close their doors by 10 p.m. to comply with COVID restrictions. However, they will no longer be forced to do so. In addition, all offices, both government and private, will be allowed to operate at full capacity.
Exhibitions, reopening of gyms, spas and swimming pools allowed. The Deputy Chief Minister stated that the operators of gyms, spas, and swimming pools have suffered greatly as a result of the prolonged closure of these facilities. Along with this, athletes were having difficulty preparing for their games; as a result, it has been decided that all gyms, spas, and swimming pools will be open on Monday, and B2B exhibitions will be permitted.
