GUWAHATI, Aug 29 - �Informal classes� will be held for class XII and degree final year students in small batches from September 15, State Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said here today.
Addressing a press conference, Sarma said while the time for teachers to get their COVID-19 tests done has been extended till September 15, during the first fortnight of September the educational institutions will be sanitised and classrooms reorganised to ensure social distancing.
�Teachers will call class XII and TDC final year students in batches of four/five and hold informal classes. This will be done on experimental basis from September 15 to 30. However, in case there are instances of COVID infection the classes will be suspended immediately,� he said.
Similarly, teachers in primary schools � where students come two days a week for mid-day meal � will provide study material and a question paper to the students.
The following week, the answer papers will be evaluated in the presence of students, the minister said.
Others will continue online classes, but teachers will have to conduct it from the school. It will be the discretion of the school heads to allow pregnant teachers to stay at home.
In case any school is a Covid care centre, the teachers can be attached to another school nearby.
The government is also mulling over providing free masks to students.
However, full-fledged resumption of classes in schools and colleges will be decided by the Central government. �It is a national disaster and so we will go by the wisdom of the Government of India,� he said.
