SHILLONG: The Meghalaya government has proposed complete re-opening of Classes 6-12 from February 8 across the state in both urban and rural areas.
The Education Department issued a notification on Friday, stating, the decision for re-opening of schools is to complete the courses, plan and prepare for the Board examination which would be held in the coming months.
For classes 1-5, the Education Department has recommended partial opening in urban areas like Shillong, Jowai and Tura only for consultations, submission of assignments and discussions with teachers, however, the department has recommended for complete opening in the rural areas.
Even in case of Jawahar Navoday Vidyalayas, which come under the gambit of the central education, the notification issued by the Meghalaya government recommended complete opening for Class 6 to 12.
The Education Department has also asked the schools to strictly adhere to several SOPs and protocols which are in place for Covid-19. These SOPs include mandatory parental consent for attendance. The department has also asked school managing committees to consult with the stakeholders before reopening any of the classes.
Earlier, the Meghalaya Education Department had declared the closure of all academic sessions from December 21.
On December 16, DP Wahlang, Principal Secretary of the state Education Department in a notification said that the Adjusted Academic Calendar (AAC) for all classes except those appearing for Board examinations in 2021 have been revised.
The schools were earlier closed down for winter vacation and were set to reopen from January 11, 2021.
The final examinations are reportedly to begin from March 11 and continue till March 20th, while the term break will be from 21st to 31st March. The new academic session of 2021-22 is slated to begin on April 1.
Meanwhile, Meghalaya has detected 27 new COVID-19 positive cases in the last 24 hours. With the new cases, the number of active COVID19 cases in the state now stands at 81 while the number of deaths remains unchanged at 147.