All schools in the city, which remained closed till now for physical classes owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, will reopen from 1 November.

However, no student will be forced to attend offline classes as online classes will continue to be conducted.

The decision was taken by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority at its meeting today in view of the drastic fall in the single-day Covid-19 cases and a large part of the city’s population having been vaccinated.

Physical classes were allowed in schools till now only for students in classes 9 and above.

Announcing this at a press conference on Wednesday after the DDMA meeting, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, also the Education Minister, said the Delhi government, the DDMA, and experts were of the view that the overall growth of children was getting affected considerably owing to the discontinuance of physical classes in schools.

However, it is now being felt that it is safe to allow offline classes in schools fully. Therefore, all public and private schools will be allowed to reopen for all classes for in-person attendance with effect from 1 November.

He, however, pointed out that parents will not be forced to send their children to school for offline classes. Online classes will continue.

“But schools will have to ensure that there is not more than 50 percent in-person attendance in classes at any given time in view of the Covid-19 protocol. Almost all staff members, including teachers and non-teaching ones, in the city’s schools, have taken at least one dose of the (Covid-19) vaccine by now. Schools have been asked to ensure 100 percent vaccination at the earliest”, he added.

Students will be allowed to attend online as well as offline classes, as teaching will be done in the hybrid mode — both online and offline. Physical attendance for students will be voluntary, he pointed out.

Sisodia added physical attendance in a classroom would not be allowed to exceed more than 50 percent of its capacity.

In a tweet also, Sisodia said, “All the schools and educational institutes shall be allowed to be reopened, for all the classes, in Delhi from 1st Nov. However, schools shall also continue online classes for the students who are not willing to attend offline classes.”