Education in Assam is set to begin afresh in the new year with the reopening of all schools and classes across the state. The state government has announced that it will withdraw all restrictions enforced on educational institutions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, from January 1, 2021. As the pandemic is yet to die down, how is the state planning to usher in a safe environment for the students and staff?
All must wear masks and maintain social distancing
The number of daily COVID-19 spike in the state has reduced and most of the new COVID-19 positive cases are air passengers, but all must wear face masks and maintain social distancing, state Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said, speaking to reporters on Monday.
“All academic restrictions in Assam will be withdrawn from January 1. As such, all schools will reopen but everyone will wear masks and maintain social distancing,” Sarma said.
Schools in Assam had reopened for students of Class VII and above on November 2. But the attendance is reportedly thin still. Now, with the government’s plan to withdraw all academic restrictions, all schools and colleges are likely to resume normal classes.
Apart from wearing masks and maintaining social distancing, what are the other steps the government is preparing to take as all other restrictions will be withdrawn?
Proper guidelines to be issued
Proper standard operating procedure (SOP) to be followed in all academic institutions will be published by the Assam education department later, the minister said.
It may be noted that Assam still is the state in Northeast India with the highest tally of COVID-19 deaths, positive, active cases.
As per latest updates, Sarma said the state recorded 1,003 COVID-19 deaths as one more patient succumbed to the disease on Monday, while the confirmed tally rose to 2,14,803 with 146 new positive cases. Of the new cases, 52 are from Kamrup Metropolitan district.
With 125 more recoveries on Monday, the total number of recovered cases in the state has reached 2,10,296 and the recovery rate is 97.90 per cent. The cumulative number of active cases stands at 3,501.
In all, 56,45,963 samples have been tested for COVID-19 in the state.
