Nursery to Class VI to reopen in Assam in a staggered manner from 1 Jan: Himanta Biswa

Nov. 30: After 10 months, Assam government has decided to reopen schools for students of Nursery to Class VI for both government and private schools. Announcing this during a press conference held at Janata Bhawan, Guwahati on Monday, State Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the elementary level classes from Nursery to VI will be started from 1 January, 2021 in a staggered manner.

Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the decision to reopen classes from 1 January, 2021 was taken after discussion with Primary Teachers’ Associations. The Education Department will issue a separate Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), which should be followed by all the authorities of schools. The minister was, however, quick to add that the classes for Nursery to VI will be started in a staggered manner. The guidelines to be issued by the Education Department will contain the day’s on which classes for nursery to VI will be held. That means, classes will not be held daily for these students.

The decision to reopen the classes from Nursery to 6 shall be applicable for both government and private schools. However, it will depend on the parents, whether they want to send their children to the school or not as attendance will not be registered. As such, the minister said that both the online and offline mode of classes will continue in the private schools. The minister also said that the school Principals should clean the classrooms properly and sanitise the campus before reopening of elementary level classes.

The minister further added that the teachers of elementary schools will have to undergo Covid test before 1 January, 2021.