Schools, colleges in Assam to reopen from November 2

Guwahati, 17th October: Schools and colleges in Assam are all set to reopen from November 2 and the state government has directed all educational institutions to reopen the institutions by following COVID-19 protocols.

Assam Education Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that the schools and colleges in the state will be reopened from November 2.

The schools will be reopened for the students of Class 6 to 12 and no decision has taken so far for reopening nursery to Class 5. For the universities and colleges, they would be allowed to reopen and they have to follow all COVID-19 protocols, guidelines issued by government,” Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

“We have issued the protocols to reopen schools and colleges. Hostels will be reopened from December 1. Schools will be reopened from November 2. We have divided sections and days in a manner so that, the institution doesn’t become overcrowded. There will be two shifts morning 8-30 am to 12-30 pm and evening shift 1-30 pm to 4-30 pm. All students are not required to come every day. We have also given an option that if some parents or school authorities don’t want to open school, they want to carry on online classes they can do that,” the Assam minister said.

He further said that the state government will be not insisting on mandatory attendance this year, this is a voluntary participation.

According to the guidelines issued by the state government, the students of Under Graduate (UG) first semester will have their classes on Monday and Thursday, students of UG third semester will have their classes on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, students of UG fifth semester will have their classes on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.

College may continue with online classes along with offline classes. For Post-Graduate classes, the college will follow the guidelines of the parent university/UGC. All teaching and non-teaching staff are to attend to their duties regularly from November 2 and government engineering colleges, polytechnics are allowed to reopen for face to face class from November 2,” said in the government guidelines.