New Delhi: The students who were elated to be able to attend the first offline class of the academic session wore masks and queued up outside schools maintaining social distance.
”It was optional to come but I was sure I have to. It is the last year of my school life and I haven’t come to school even one day,” said Pragati Diwan, an excited class 12 student.
For another student at Geeta Bal Bharti School, the feeling was similar to that of attending first day at school.
”It does not feel like I am coming to school after ten months, it feels like I have come to school for the first time. I am looking forward to the preparations for board exams here,” she said.
The school put up posters of ”welcome back” in corridors where teachers stood with sanitisers and checked the temperature of each student before letting them in.
Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya in Mandawali decorated the premises with balloons and the teachers showered flower petals on students, welcoming them.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia is also visiting a school in Chirag Enclave on Monday to assess the readiness of schools to welcome class 10 and 12 students. Calling students in different slots, shorter school hours, frequent sanitisation and staggered entry and exit are among the plans of various schools in the national capital as they gear to welcome class 10 and 12 students on Monday for the first time in the academic session.
The schools are reopening in Delhi after 10 months, after being shut last year to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, and they have been instructed by the Directorate of Education (DoE) to follow all COVID-19 guidelines when classroom studies resume.