Delhi: Deputy CM Manish Sisodia discusses reopening plans with school principals

New Delhi, Aug 10: Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia interacted with school principals on Tuesday to discuss plans for reopening of schools in the national capital and stressed on bridging the learning gap of children and catering to their social-emotional wellbeing.

Asserting that COVID-19 cases in Delhi have been controlled to a great extent, he said that during the special PTM most of the parents agreed that schools should reopen because in the last one-and-half years, there has been a lot of damage to the education of children.

"We have to bridge the loss of learning as well as cater to the mental and socio-emotional wellbeing of children. Our children and teachers have gone through a harrowing phase of Covid and we need to get them out of that phase," Sisodia said during the interaction.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) on August 8 allowed students of class 10 to 12 to visit schools from Monday for work related to admission and practical activities for the board exams and also said health checkup camps on school campuses can resume. The Directorate of Education (DoE) on Monday issued SOPs regarding the same.

During the interaction, the Sisodia sought suggestions from heads of schools regarding the opening of schools. One of the heads of school suggested working towards reconnecting children in the first week of school so that they can reunite with the teaching-learning process again.

A principal said if needed, a professional counsellor would be provided by the school for counselling of children. Noting that there is no harm now in reopening schools in the national capital, Delhi Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal had last week directed officials to set up an expert committee to chalk out a detailed plan.

"It is noteworthy that a three-day capacity building programme has been started for the heads of schools in the southeast district. The purpose of this training program is to make the heads of schools aware of the new programs started by the government in the field of education and share information related to its implementation.

"Along with this, training is also being given to them on how to reduce the learning gap of the children once schools reopen and reconnect them with learning," a senior Delhi government official said.