Schools, colleges in Andhra Pradesh to reopen from 2 November

The Andhra Pradesh state government, on Thursday, granted permission to schools and colleges in the state to reopen from 2 November. The educational institutions are set to be reopened in a three-phased manner.

As per an order from the Chief Minister’s Office, classes will commence for students of grades 9, 10, 11, and 12 while classes for 6, 7, and 8 will start from 23 November. The order further stated that classes will be held for half-day only and on alternate days only. Classes 1,2,3,4,5, on the other hand, are likely to commence from 14 December.

The authorities in Andhra Pradesh stated that all safety measures are being taken to reopen the schools and colleges in the state.

Recently, the Central Government permitted the state governments for reopening schools, coaching institutes, colleges, state, and private universities allowing gatherings above the limit of 100, based on the assessment of the situation in the respective states and subject to SOPs.

It may be noted that the Andhra Pradesh state government had earlier announced that schools will be reopened on 15 October. However, with the cases failing to see a dip, the authorities dropped the proposal.

Educational institutions across the country have remained shut for several months due to the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic. Resorting to alternate ways of conducting classes, several managements took to digital means by connecting with students via online sessions.

Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh reported 2905 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday. According to the bulletin released this evening, 3243 individuals recovered from the infection in the past day. The coronavirus tally of the state has now reached 8,17,679 with 26,268 active cases, 7,84,752 recoveries, and 6,659 casualties. Over the past 24 hours, 88,778 tests were conducted in the state.