The Week Ahead: Delhi reopens schools; Modi to review districts with low vaccination coverage

Today is a key day in the Covid unlock process for the Captial’s schools: The Delhi Disaster Management Authority allowed reopening of all classes November 1 onwards, and most of them are busy getting everything right. While only a handful of public and private schools will reopen from Monday, most of them plan to reopen after Diwali to ensure there is no break in between and schools get sufficient time to prepare. This is crucial as this is the first time in 19 months that students of all classes are being allowed to return for in-person classes. Since March last year, the Delhi government has twice allowed students of classes 9 to 12 to return to school – the first time in January and February this year and the second time in September. While the Delhi government has allowed plying of school buses and vans, many schools are still contemplating whether running those services – amid staggered class timings and 50% occupancy in vehicles – would be financially viable or not.

Covid is still top of mind in the policy corridors. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a review meeting with districts having low Covid-19 vaccination coverage, on November 3 at noon via a video conference. The meeting will include districts with less than 50% coverage of the first dose and low coverage of the second dose. There are 48 such districts that have first dose coverage less than 50%. National coverage is above 70%.

But first, PM Modi will address the World Leaders Summit on Monday at the Glasgow climate change conference (COP26) on Monday. India’s goal of achieving 450GW renewable energy by 2030 is likely to be the highlight of the country’s contribution to climate change mitigation at the UN-led COP26 summit. India may also update its nationally determined contribution (NDC) under the Paris Agreement. Most countries have either updated their NDCs or announced net zero emissions targets as a long term goal.

Politically, it will mostly be about bypolls in 29 assembly and 3 Lok Sabha constituencies would be held on November 2, which is being touted as a direct contest between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress. This is a major by-poll before 2022 assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur.

The states too have an active unlock process this week. From November 1, hostels of residential schools in Assam will reopen. Offline classes for school and college students are already taking place across the state. Also, on the same day, COVID19 restrictions set to be lifted to boost tourism sector.

In West Bengal, the state education department is likely to announce the schedules of the Class X and XII board exams for 2022. In 2021 the exams had to be cancelled. Local train services will resume on Monday with 50% capacity after a gap of six months. Even though, officially, they were to start on October 31 (Sunday), the rush is expected on Monday, the first day of the week.

An important development in the Madras high court on Monday, when it will deliver its judgement on the validity of the 10.5% internal reservation allocated for the Vanniyar community in public jobs and education by the previous AIADMK regime earlier this year. This reservation was followed by the DMK that formed the government in May by passing a government order.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Kedarnath shrine on November 5, a day before the closing of portals of the highly revered shrine in the state. During his visit, he will also unveil the statue of Adi Shankracharya at Kedarnath temple premises along with inaugurating restoration and works worth about ₹250 cr.

In sports, the Khel Ratna and Arjuna Award trophies will be presented to the athletes on Monday.

After a dismal Sunday loss to New Zealand by 8 wickets, India play Afghanistan on Wednesday and face Scotland on Friday in the T20 World Cup.

Football lovers may love the UEFA Champions League matchups on Tuesday and Wednesday night: Manchester United v Atalanta; Bayern Munich v Benfica; Liverpool v Atletico; PSG v Leipzig.

On Sunday, the Formula One Mexican GP could see Max Verstappen can extend his lead over Hamilton. Will he, or won’t he?