Gujarat to Reopen Schools for Class 12, Colleges from July 15

The Gujarat government on Friday said it has decided to reopen schools for class 12 students and colleges for undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) students from July 15. Issuing fresh guidelines, Chief Minister Vijay Rupani said that only 50 per cent of students will be allowed to attend campuses. It also added that the students can attend physical classes on a voluntary basis. However, physical attendance will not be made mandatory.

According to the guidelines, schools and colleges will have to follow strict COVID-19 guidelines and follow the standard operating principles including mandatory masks, social distancing, sanitization among others.

On Thursday, the state government lifted the night curfew in 10 out of 18 urban areas and allowed coaching centres for the students of class 9 onwards to resume classes.

Gujarat on Thursday added 62 new COVID-19 cases that raised its tally of infections to 8,24,091, an official from that state health department said.

With no fresh casualties in the last 24 hours for the second consecutive day, the state's toll stood at 10,072, while 534 patients were discharged from various hospitals, taking the count of recoveries to 8,12,522, the official said.

With this, the rate of recovery in Gujarat now stands at 98.60 per cent, he said, adding that the state is left with 1,497 active cases.