Highlights:
- Delhi’s Deputy Chief Minister is looking after the education ministry in Delhi Government
- Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia says schools will remain closed in the national capital
- Sisodia said “not safe to reopen the schools”
The Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia has said that all schools – government run as well as privately run – in the National Capital will remain closed until further notice as the COVID-19 situation in Delhi is worsening again.
Manish Sisodia, the deputy CM of Delhi, is also looking after the education ministry in the Delhi government.
Sisodia said, “It is not safe to reopen schools in Delhi yet, and also parents are not in favour too” and added that the “Delhi Government has decided to increase 1330 seats in colleges that are under IP University.”
“We keep getting feedback from parents that they are really concerned about whether it is safe to reopen schools. It is not. Wherever schools have reopened, COVID-19 cases among children have risen. So we have decided that as of now schools in the national capital will not reopen. They will continue to be closed till further orders,”
Earlier, on the 24th of October, the Chief Minister of Delhi, Arvind Kejriwal ruled out the opening of schools in Delhi telling the reporters that “Schools are not reopening for now,” on sidelines of an event.
Earlier the government had announced that the schools shall continue to remain closed till October 31st in view of the novel Coronavirus pandemic. Universities and schools across the country have been closed since the 16th of March, when the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as part of the measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
On the 25th of March, a nationwide lockdown was imposed to contain the spread of the novel Coronavirus while several restrictions have been eased in different phases of “unlock”, educational institutions continue to remain closed.
Having said this, as per the latest “unlock” phase guidelines, states can take a call of reopening schools in a phased manner. Earlier, schools were allowed to call students from class 9 to 12 to school on a voluntary basis from the 21st of September.
However, the Delhi government along with several other states decided not to reopen them.
Delhi had recorded 4,853 fresh COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, this is the highest single-day spike till date, as the infection tally in the city mounted up reaching to more than 3.64 lakh, the authorities said.
The previous highest single-day spike seen by Delhi was on the 16th of September when 4,473 cases were recorded.
As per the latest bulletin issued by the Delhi’s health department, 44 news deaths were reported which took Delhi’s total COVID-19 fatalities to 6,356. The 4,853 fresh cases came out as the government conducted 57,210 tests the previous day.
