New Delhi, Feb 4 (IANS): As Covid-19 cases record a decline in the national capital, colleges in Delhi, starting from February 7, will operate in physical or offline mode only, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Friday.

"Students have completed two years of their college from the confinement of their homes. That is why colleges will have to be opened from this Monday. They have been asked to do away with their online classes and run the classes physically," he said in a virtual press conference this afternoon.

The same rules will be applied to all the skill-related institutes like ITIs and polytechnics as well, he added. Coaching institutes, too, will be opened in the national capital from Monday.

Updating on the mode of education to be followed by schools in the coming weeks, Sisodia, said: "Schools for students of class 9 to 12 and colleges will be opened from February 7. For the time being, classes will be taken in hybrid (both offline and online) mode in schools. However, online classes will be soon done away with and only physical classes will take place."

Schools for students of nursery to Class 8, will be opened from February 14. Sisodia cited the decreasing number of Covid cases and increase in vaccination rates as the reason behind the decision.

"It will be ensured that all the school staff and teachers of both the private and government schools are vaccinated," he added.

These decisions were taken by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) during a meeting on Friday morning, to bring back normalcy in the lives of the people living in Delhi. Schools and other educational institutes in the national capital were shut down due to the emergence of Covid in March 2020.

Due to the closure of educational institutes, parents and teachers have witnessed a lack of social, reading and writing skills amongst students.