COVID-19 Update | Will schools in India reopen anytime soon? Here's what the Centre says

COVID-19 Update: A survey by LocalCircles revealed that the percentage of parents who will send their children to school whenever it reopens has reduced from 69 percent to 20 percent in 4 months. (Representative image)

The decision to reopen schools, which are closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has to be taken cautiously amid the ongoing "unpredictable situation", said VK Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog.

Addressing the Union Health Ministry's media briefing on the COVID-19 situation in India, Paul said, “the decision has to be taken cautiously and we should take risks only when we are protected.”

“School is a crowd, a medium or large gathering, which gives an opportunity for virus to infect. So, we should take that risk only when we are rather better protected, virus is suppressed and we are able to sit at a distance. But it is not easy to take this decision to open schools when an unpredictable situation is prevalent,” said Paul.

He further said that the virus is suppressed at present due to discipline and restrictions prevalent in many states. “If we ease restrictions and open schools, then the virus gets opportunities to infect,” he added.

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Meanwhile, a survey by LocalCircles revealed that the percentage of parents who will send their children to school whenever it reopens has reduced from 69 percent to 20 percent in 4 months amid the growing evidence that the new strain of coronavirus is more harmful to children.

In a survey by LocalCircles in January 2021, 69 percent of parents were in favour of school reopening in April 2021. This number has significantly dropped to 20 percent of parents in India who wanted to send their children to schools if they were to open in July 2021.

The survey further showed that vaccination hesitancy among parents has reduced. While 26 percent of Indian parents approved of the vaccine for their children in January 2021, the number has increased to 65 percent in June 2021.

Also read | COVID-19 vaccine for children: Covaxin approval expected by October, says AIIMS Chief Randeep Guleria

In a related development, Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia has said that students will not be called to schools anytime soon keeping in mind their safety and security in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"Keeping in mind the security and safety of children, we are not calling students back to school anytime soon,” Sisodia said on June 21.

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