EDMC schools to reopen from November 8 with 50 percent capacity

NEW DELHI: Schools run by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation are slated to reopen with 50 per cent capacity from November 8 after a gap of over a year-and-a-half, the civic body said on Friday. Authorities at north corporation and south corporation had already issued orders earlier this week to reopen schools run by them from November 1 onwards after a gradual fall in the number of COVID-19 cases being reported here.

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Schools had been closed in Delhi after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic and the lockdowns it had induced. All primary schools, Pratibha Vidyalayas, aided and recognised schools under the EDMC will open from Monday. The consent of parents shall be obtained before they send their children to school, East Delhi Mayor Shyam Sunder Aggarwal was quoted as saying in a statement issued by the civic body.

The mayor said as a precautionary measure, such arrangements are being made that only 50 per cent of the given strength of children will be called at a time to ensure the Covid-appropriate behaviour is followed. Parents are advised that if the child is unwell or has a cough, cold or fever, then not to send him or her to school and the teacher concerned must be informed, he said.

The mayor said although the schools are opening, the classes will be continued on the online mode as well so that children who are unable to come to the school their education will not be interrupted due to any reason. Chairman of EDMC's Education Committee Rajiv Kumar said the teachers, who were deployed on Covid duties, have been relieved. He said vaccination centres operating at EDMC schools are either minimised or restricted in limited space.

Since the EDMC schools are opening after about one-and-a-half years, special attention is being paid towards cleanliness at all the schools, Kumar said. School administrations have been given detailed instructions. Hand sanitisers will be kept outside classrooms in the school premises and there should be adequate arrangement of soap in toilets, officials said.

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Kumar said cases of vector-borne diseases are also increasing in the city, and in such a situation fogging is being done at all EDMC schools, and water tanks are being cleaned. The chairman of the education committee said the school inspector has been given the responsibility to visit allotted schools and ensure these guidelines are strictly followed, the official said.