The Home Ministry in its latest directives made no new changes to the existing Unlock 5 guidelines and said they would continue to be implemented in November 2020.
The order further said that lockdown shall continue to be implemented strictly in the containment zones till November 30, 2020. Earlier, the guidelines for reopening activities issued on September 30 were to be in force till October 31.
The Union Ministry of Home Ministry on Tuesday (October 26, 2020) issued a fresh order and said there will be no further relaxation in Unlock guidelines for the next month.
Following are the guidelines for school, colleges, and other educational institutions-
1) On reopening of schools and other educational institutions, states and UTs have been given an upper hand to decide whether to resume classes or not.
2) Online learning has been encouraged to avoid the spread of viruses. Students have the option of not going to school and continue distance learning.
3) However, if a student decides to go to school, the written consent of parents or guardians will be mandatory.
4) States and Union Territories will need to prepare their SOPs in line with the Centre’s Unlock 5 guidelines and in accordance with the ground situation in their respective units.
5) Higher institutions can reopen only for Ph.D. and PG students in Science and technology streams that need experimental or lab work.
6) Attendance will entirely depend on parental consent and cannot be enforced by schools.
7) Schools will have to alter students’ seating plans to ensure physical distancing and have staggered entry and exit timings and timetables for different groups of students.
8) Physical distancing must be maintained at schools and students and teachers must wear face masks at all times.
Currently, with 43,893 new cases, infections in India are now close to 8 million.
508 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours and taking the toll to 1,20,010 and of the 79,90,322 cases, 6,10,803 are active infections, while 72,59,509 patients have been discharged.
In India, Kerala recorded the highest number of cases for the fifth consecutive day.
