New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Tuesday dismissed the PIL challenging the Delhi government’s order of 100 percent physical reopening of schools from April 1, 2022.
In late February the Delhi government had announced the reopening of schools in a completely offline manner considering the decreasing covid-19 cases in Delhi.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) had taken the decision on February 25, which was later declared by Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal via Twitter.
“DDMA withdraws all restrictions as situation improves n people facing hardships due to loss of jobs. Schools to function fully offline from 1 Apr. Fines for not wearing masks reduced to Rs 500. All shud continue following Covid Appropriate Behaviour. Govt will keep strict watch,” Kejriwal had tweeted.
The order came after the central government allowed physical reopening of classes with 100 percent capacity. However, unlike the central government’s order, the Delhi government kept the clause of parental consent.
The PIL against the Delhi government was filed in reference to the request that the children aged between 12-14 years be exempted from the new order considering that all the children have not been vaccinated yet.
Although the government has approved vaccines for children aged between 12-14 years, all the children have not been vaccinated yet.
The schools in Delhi have been operating on a hybrid basis since February 8, 2022, when the schools were opened at 50 percent capacity.
The process of reopening schools has been going on since November 2021 when the schools were briefly opened and later shut again first due to pollution and later due to increasing cases of covid-19 resulting from the omicron-led third wave in the country.