Coaching centres in Delhi gear up to reopen with vaccinated staff, sanitised premises

new delhi: fully vaccinated staff, well sanitised precincts and optional physical attendance are among the safety measures that will be taken by coaching institutes in delhi which have been allowed reopen from september 1.       following a marked improvement in the covid situation in the national capital, the delhi government on friday announced that schools for classes 9 to 12, colleges and coaching institutions will reopen from september 1.      while the institutes are assuring high standards of safety protocols, coaching centre chains like aakash institute and vidyamandir have made it mandatory for students opting for physical classes to have consent forms signed by their parents.    "the safety of our students is our prime responsibility. we would like to assure the parents that as we are reopening our premises, we have taken all the precautionary measures and are abiding by all the government guidelines to ensure a healthy and safe environment.    "the institute has made it mandatory for those who wish to attend the classroom coaching to have the written consent of their parents," said aakash chaudhry, managing director, aakash educational services limited (aesl).     the institute, best known for its medical coaching, will also be facilitating contactless attendance across all its branches, proper crowd management in parking lots, in corridors and in lifts to mitigate the risk of spreading covid-19.     vidyamandir , which has nine centres across the capital, too will be circulating a consent form among the parents of the students enrolled in the institute, and depending on the number of students willing to attend classes physically, the institute is likely to reopen on september 3-4.    "we will see how many students are interested in attending physical classes, and will accordingly reopen slowly, first only for the students of classes 11 and 12.    "classes will be held at 35-50 per cent occupancy, and the classrooms will be sanitised after every lecture. meanwhile, the online sessions will continue," said saurabh kumar, national director, academics, vidyamandir.     he said the institute has been getting calls about reopening from a large number of students.    "it is true that classes can be attended online, but the problem occurs during doubt clearance. that has become very difficult online," he said.    kumar added that provided the pandemic situation remained under control, they might start offline sessions for classes 9 and 10 in the next two months.    while the big coaching chains are gearing up to resume business offline, smaller coaching centres in the city are still mulling over the decision.    neeraj tanwar, who owns the maximus academy in naraina here, is yet to take a decision.    "i am not sure when i will resume physical classes, because it really depends on the parents, and they have been quite reluctant in the past," he said.    compared to the pre-pandemic times, only one-third of his student strength is currently enrolled at the coaching centre that offers tuitions in physics, chemistry, mathematics and biology for students of classes 11-12.