New Delhi: As emotions soared among children finally returning to their classrooms to be with their friends and teachers once again, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal welcomed them back saying he was "very happy" to see kids back in school. He added: "Praying to god that we don't have to shut schools again, children have suffered a lot."
Even as most schools reopened for physical classes for Grades 9 to 12, some are taking a longer time to prepare their campuses. In Delhi government schools, teachers welcomed students with singing and dancing and focused on fun interactive sessions to ease the children back into campus life.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who is also the city's Education minister, visited a few schools on Monday and interacted with students and teachers. In a statement, he said while online learning helped during the pandemic, it can never replace physical classroom teaching and learning.
Significantly, while Delhi government schools saw a decent turnout in most parts of the city while private schools saw a relatively lower attendance with school bus and carpooling services affected and many parents hesitant about their kids' safety.
The Delhi government and the Delhi Disaster Management Authority have said that schools from nursery to Grade 8 will be reopened from February 14 and preparations from the same are underway.
Assam will reopen completely from February 15 as the Covid cases have dipped significantly.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday said board exams of classes 10 and 12, civic polls, by-elections to Majuli seat, and Karbi Anglong Autonomous Council elections would be held in the next two months.
He, however, said the students appearing for the exams must be fully vaccinated.
The government also decided to lift the night curfew and allow malls, cinema halls to operate at full capacity. There will also be no restrictions on wedding hours but the guests have to be fully vaccinated. Mask-wearing will be mandatory.
Meanwhile, India on Monday reported 83,876 fresh Covid cases that took its total tally to 4,22,72,014, according to Union Health ministry data. This is the first time in around 32 days that daily cases have dropped below one lakh.
The death toll climbed to 5,02,874 with 895 more fatalities, the data updated at 8 am stated.
The number of active cases in the country has declined further to 11,08,938, comprising 2.62 per cent of the total infections. The national COVID-19 recovery rate has improved to 96.19 per cent, the ministry said.
A reduction of 1,16,073 cases has been
recorded in the active COVID-19 caseload in a
span of 24 hours.
The cumulative Covid vaccine doses administered in the country crossed 170 crore landmark on Monday, the Union Health ministry said.
Over 50 lakh (50,48,778) vaccine doses were given till 7 pm on Monday. More than 1.52 crore (1,52,95,149) precaution doses have been administered to healthcare workers, frontline workers and those aged 60 and above with comorbidities.