The Uttar Pradesh administration has decided to shut all schools for students up to class 8 from 24 March till 31 March, the state announced on Monday. All other educational institutions where exams are not underway will also remain closed for the duration.
The move comes in the backdrop of rising Covid-19 infections across the state and the country.
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A decision regarding it was taken during a high-level meeting of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath with other state officials.
Several state governments have announced the closure of schools and colleges following a spike in Covid-19 daily cases.
Schools reopened in February
The Yogi Adityanath government had in February issued guidelines for the reopening of schools in Uttar Pradesh for classes 6 to 8 from 10 February and from 1 March for students of classes 1 to 5.
The classes were being held only twice a week and only 50% of the students were allowed to attend, as per the Basic Education Department in Uttar Pradesh.
Mid-day meals were also being provided to the students while ensuring precautionary measures in the schools.
"It will be mandatory for all the schools to get a written consent letter from parents to send their students for attending classes. Parents will also give complete information about the health status of students and about their national and international travel if any," read the guidelines issued by the UP government.
If the student wants to study from home he will be given an option to study online, it added.
Cases in Uttar Pradesh
At present, there are 3,036 active coronavirus cases in Uttar Pradesh, as per the Union Health Ministry. As many as 5,95,743 have recovered from the disease.
The state saw a single-day spike of over 500 Covid cases (542) on Monday, taking the state’s caseload to 6,08,076 while one death in Kanpur pushed the fatality count to 8,760.
On 16 January, that state had reported 533 cases, after which the fresh case count remained below 500 and gradually touched 58-mark in February, as per the health department.
