Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday, October 24, 2020, ruled out the reopening of schools in the national capital as of now. “Schools are not reopening for now,” Kejriwal told reporters on sidelines of an event. The government had earlier announced that schools will continue to remain closed till October 31 in view of Covid-19 pandemic.

Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16, when the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as part of the measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus. A nationwide lockdown was imposed on March 25.

While several restrictions have been eased in different phases of “unlock”, educational institutions continue to remain closed. However, as per “unlock” phase guidelines, states can take a call about reopening schools in phases. Earlier, schools were allowed to call students from class 9 to 12 to school on voluntary basis from September 21. However, the Delhi government decided against it.

Talking about AAP government’s decision to not pay for CBSE examination fees this year, Kejriwal cited fund crunch due to the pandemic.

Earlier, some Delhi parents asked the government not to reopen schools in the national capital. The parents of the children studying are not convinced about the safety of their kids in schools and urged the CM Arvind Kejriwal not to reopen schools in this academic year due to the Covid-19 pandemic conditions. 

An email was sent to the CMO by the Delhi Parent’s Association consisting of views of 2,498 parents, many of who did not find sending their wards to school feasible in the pandemic. It stated that almost all the parents are not comfortable sending their children to schools currently.

One of the parents wrote, “Schools should be reopened when zero Covid-19 cases are reported for at least 10 days or when a vaccine is available. Else, the government should declare this year as a zero year.”

Source: PTI

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