Will propose reopening of schools today, says Dy CM

New Delhi: Even as parents of school children in the Capital have asked that schools be the first to be reopened after the current Covid-19 wave subsides, the Delhi government is set to propose school reopening at the Delhi Disaster Management Authority meeting scheduled for today (Thursday), officials aware of developments said.

A delegation of parents of Delhi's children led by policy experts Dr Chandrakant Lahariya and Yamini Aiyar also submitted a memorandum signed by more than 1,600 parents seeking reopening of schools to Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who spoke to them and heard their issues.

The Minister agreed with the experts during the meeting and said that in a bid to bridge the learning gap of students and to ensure their social, emotional and mental well-being, it is imperative for the government to reopen schools.

"We closed school when it was not safe for children but excessive caution is now harming our children. A generation of children will be left behind if we do not open our schools now," he said.

After reopening following the second wave last year, the excessive air pollution in the Capital had forced the Delhi government to shut down schools once again. Following this, when schools were reopened once again, they were shut down within a week in light of the Omicron-propelled third wave of the pandemic.

Centre for Policy Research president Yamini Aiyar said that a huge learning gap was being seen among children because of them staying away from schools for too long. The school closure has only widened over the past two years and keeping children further away from schools will mean that an entire generation will move ahead with the learning gap.

Sisodia, who is also the education minister of Delhi, said that various research studies have found that COVID is not so dangerous for children and that it is crucial to reopen schools so that students can prepare for exams.

"I agree with the parents' demands. We closed school when it was not safe for children but excessive caution is now harming our children. A generation of children will be left behind if we do not open our schools now," he wrote on Twitter.

The Education Minister further said that he will put forward the proposal in the DDMA meeting while pointing out that schools are being reopened in several countries and even in many Indian states.

Along with requesting that schools be allowed to reopen for physical classes, a senior official said the Delhi government will also propose to remove weekend and night curbs along with the lifting of the odd-even rule for shops in markets.

Since last week, traders' bodies and market associations have aggressively demanded that the restrictions on markets and weekend curbs be lifted in light of the declining cases in the city. The Delhi government had last week too proposed to lift these curbs, but the L-G-led DDMA had shot it down.

On Wednesday, traders' bodies once again shot a letter to the L-G, seeking that the DDMA lift these restrictions in today's meeting.