New Delhi, Jan 26 : Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said here Today  that the AAP government will propose the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) to reopen schools in the national capital in a meeting scheduled tomorrow. Citing a decline in daily cases and a falling positivity rate, Sisodia, who is also the Education Minister here, said it would not be suitable to keep children away from schools. “We will request in the DDMA meeting that it be allowed to reopen schools, while following all Covid-19 protocols. With children returning to schools, not only will the schools witness a buzz, but it will also indicate lives coming back on track,” the Minister said. The proposal from Sisodia came after a delegation of parents, led by independent policy experts Chandrakant Lahariya and Yamini Aiyar, submitted a memorandum to him today. The memorandum was signed by more than 1600 parents, seeking re-opening of schools. According to the delegation, continuous closure of schools, done as excessive caution, was now harming the children. “A generation of children will be left behind, if we do not open our schools now,” the delegation said in the memorandum. According to a statement released from Deputy CM’s office, Sisodia observed that continued school closure due to the Covid-19 pandemic over the past two years have not only resulted in a huge learning gap among children, but also affected their mental and emotional health. “To bridge the learning gap of students and ensure their social, emotional and mental well-being, it has become imperative to open schools,” he was quoted in the statement. Centre for Policy Research President Yamini Aiyar said that a huge learning gap is being observed among kids because of them staying away from schools for a long. “Due to the pandemic, it has only widened over the past two years and keeping kids further away from schools will mean that an entire generation will move ahead with the learning gap. Several researchers have found that children are even forgetting the basic mathematics and fundamental language skills,” she added. Chandrakant Lahariya said school closures have a few advantages, but their negative impact on children’s learning and mental-emotional well-being was very high.(UNI)