Educational institutions will reopen in New Delhi in a graded manner from Monday as restrictions are scaled down in view of a shrinking epidemic.

The much-reviled rule of wearing a mask while alone in a car was also relaxed on Friday.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), chaired by the centrally appointed lieutenant governor, agreed to the demand of the Aam Aadmi Party government and activists to reopen educational institutions.

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia said in a webcast after a DDMA meeting: “Prolonged school closures have resulted in significant learning losses among students of all ages. Students’ social and emotional well-being has also suffered. Thus, reopening schools is an urgent necessity.

“Classes in a hybrid model for students of grades IX to XII will resume on Monday, February 7, and will gradually transition to a completely offline mode in the coming weeks…. In the second phase, classes for students of the nursery section to Class VIII will resume from February 14.”

All staff in these institutions need to be fully vaccinated.

Sisodia said: “All colleges in Delhi will reopen on February 7, and studies will be completely shifted from the online to the offline mode.”

Skill training institutes and coaching classes can also reopen on Monday. All offices can now function at full capacity, and gyms, spas, swimming pools and business-to-business expos can resume.

School principals welcomed the decision to reopen but a section of parents of children of junior classes were sceptical.

“Students are elated with the announcement of schools opening from Monday…. Finally children will be back to their second home,” said Sudha Acharya, chairperson of the National Progressive School Conference that has 122 Delhi schools as its members.

Aparajita Gautam, president of the Delhi Parents Association, said students of primary and middle grades were unvaccinated and should continue online classes.