Delhi schools reopening deferred until next DDMA meeting
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The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), during a meeting held on Thursday, January 27, 2022 informed that the schools and colleges will continue to remain non-operational. The officials continued by saying that the discussion on resumption of physical classes in schools will be raised in the next DDMA meeting. The meeting was headed by Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal. Baijal deferred the decision to reopen schools and scheduled the discussion for the next DDMA meeting.
During the course of the meeting, the Delhi government suggested that schools must reopen in the national capital, as the Covid-19 situation had improved there. It also contended that resumption of offline academic activities in the schools was essential to prevent further damage to the social and economic well-being of children. Responding to the government official's recommendation, a senior DDMA official said, "The decision of reopening of schools will be taken up in the next meeting chaired by DDMA".
Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia opined that online studies can never be a substitute for physical classes. He went on to say that the government had decided to shut schools when it was not safe for children, but excessive caution was hampering the mental development of children.
Notably, in 2021, a delegation of parents led by Chandrakant Lahariya, a public policy specialist and epidemiologist had met Minister Sisodia and submitted a memorandum to him. The memorandum consisted of signatures of 1,600 parents who were demanding for the reopening of the schools. Following this, the schools were opened for a brief period back then, but had to be shut again owing to surging Covid-19 cases driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant.
Along with the deferred decision on school reopening, the government has decided to relax weekend curfews and odd-even systems for shops too, since the Covid-19 situation has shown an improvement in the city.
