Schools not opening for now in Delhi: Kejriwal

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday ruled out reopening of schools in the national capital for now.

"Schools are not reopening for now," Kejriwal told reporters on sidelines of an event.

The government had earlier announced that schools will continue to remain closed till October 31 in view of COVID-19 pandemic.

Universities and schools across the country have been closed since March 16, when the Centre announced a countrywide classroom shutdown as part of the measures to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.

A nationwide lockdown was imposed on March 25.  While several restrictions have been eased in different phases of "unlock", educational institutions continue to remain closed. However, as per "unlock" phase guidelines, states can take a call about reopening schools in phases.

Earlier, schools were allowed to call students from class 9 to 12 to school on voluntary basis from September 21. However, the Delhi government decided against it.

Talking about AAP government's decision to not pay for CBSE examination fees this year, Kejriwal cited fund crunch due to the pandemic.