Delhi gov't to reopen schools in phases

New Delhi (India), August 28: Students in Delhi will be allowed to attend their regular classes inside their school premises from Sept. 1 in a phased manner, announced the Delhi government on Friday.
Schools in the Indian capital have been shut since March last year, after the pandemic hit the country, with Delhi gradually being one of the most-affected places in the country.
The announcement came after a nine-member committee formed under the chairmanship of Delhi's Education Director recommended that schools for classes 9th to 12th be opened from Sept. 1, and 6th to 8th from Sept. 8.
After reviewing the situation in the two phases, the Delhi government's Directorate of Education may take the decision of opening the schools for primary and pre-primary classes in the third phase, added the joint committee's recommendations.
However, consent of parents for allowing their children to attend schools would be mandatory, and strict COVID-19 compliances would be followed during school hours for the safety of the school students.
For the past couple of months, teachers in the Indian capital have been attending their respective schools, holding online classes from their schools' premises.
The Delhi government's decision to allow students to attend their regular school classes assumes significance as number of new COVID-19 cases have fallen to below-50 level and zero deaths per day on many occasions over the past several weeks.
On Friday 46 new COVID-19 cases and zero deaths were reported. This was the 17th time when zero deaths were reported in 24 hours since the onset of the second wave of the pandemic.
Since the schools were shut in Delhi, regular classes and examinations have been conducted online. The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) had recently declared results of students of 10th and 12th standards while following a "tabulation policy" without conducting the annual examinations.
Source: Xinhua