In view of the dip in Covid-19 cases, the Arunachal Pradesh government has decided to reopen all higher education institutions–universities, colleges and polytechnics– from January 5.
The Government has also declared Saturday a ‘working day’ till normalcy returns, as the “colleges/HEIs are facing acute shortage of physical teaching-learning days to complete the syllabus”.
However, no decision regarding the reopening of hostels has been taken yet, which will be intimated by the Government in due course of time, officials said.
The offline classes for students of classes X and XII started from November 16 last and for students of classes VIII, IX and XI, these are slated to begin from January 4.
Online classes for the junior classes will continue during the current pandemic.
The State Directorate of Higher and Technical Education has issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for all to maintain the safety guidelines.
As per the SOP, timetables will be prepared by the college authorities keeping in view the requirements of social distancing as per COVID-19 protocol.
For colleges and polytechnics (both government and private), students of first/second semesters will have their offline classes on Monday and Thursday, while students of third/fourth semesters will have classes on Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
Students of the fifth/sixth semesters will have their classes on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
On Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, the colleges will arrange the classes in a way to avoid crowding.
However, the online mode of the teaching-learning process will continue on the days other than the days fixed for offline classes.
The use of face masks by students, teachers, staff and all stakeholders is mandatory.
The State, which has recorded 16,719 virus cases and discharged 16,564 so far, currently has 99 active cases.