Guwahati, Jan 31: Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday hinted that all schools could resume physical classes by February 15 in view of the decline in COVID-19 cases of late.
The state government had, on January 7 last, ordered closure of all government and private schools for students up to Class 5 and up to Class 8 in Kamrup Metro district till January 30, amid the spurt in COVID cases, in all probability triggered by the Omicron variant.
In the interim, the schools had been imparting classes through the virtual mode, as was recommended in the modified guidelines.
Addressing mediapersons on the sidelines of a programme in Dhemaji, the chief minister stated that the COVID situation was being monitored closely and that quite a substantial decline in cases has been seen.
“So I believe that the educational institutions could resume physical classes by February 15 if the situation improves further,” he said.
In regard to the night curfew, Sarma said that it would be relaxed by an hour and commence from 11 pm once the daily COVID cases drop below 1000 cases in the state.
The revised guidelines, currently effective, had imposed stricter restrictions, with night curfew clamped from 10pm to 6am, while business and commercial establishments had to close by 9pm.
“So far, about 9 lakh students (in the age group of 15 years to 18 years) have been vaccinated in the state and it is convenient for a greater number of students to get vaccinated if schools are open,” the chief minister observed.
Sarma further informed that the state health department would try to complete administering both doses of the COVID vaccine among students (15-18 age group) by February 28, 2022.
Students of Classes 9 to 11, however, had been attending physical classes in the interim on rotation mode (three days a week) while students of Class 12, engineering colleges, medical colleges, and technical institutes have been attending offline classes regularly.
According to the bulletin of the National Health Mission, Assam reported 910 new COVID-19 positive cases on Sunday, which is a decline by over 1,300 cases compared to the previous day.
