The U government on Sunday announced that all educational institutions like schools, degree colleges, universities and technical institutions will remain closed in Uttar Pradesh for physical classes till January 23 due to the prevailing Covid-19 situation in the state. The online classes, however, will continue.

All earlier scheduled ongoing examinations at universities and degree colleges during this period can be conducted in the offline mode while maintaining the Covid 19 protocol, secretary (higher education) Shamim Ahmad Khan said.

The decision on the closure of the educational institutions was taken on chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s instructions given at the Team 9 meeting attended by senior bureaucrats. Later in the day, chief secretary DS Mishra issued a written order clearly stating the closure of all educational institutions.  Earlier this month, the state government had ordered the closure of schools up to class 10 till January 16.

The Sunday’s order came a day after a private school association and their member schools on Saturday announced that offline classes will resume from January 17 for students of Classes 9 to 12.

Additional chief secretary (information) Navneet Sehgal, in a reply on social media, made the announcement soon after the meeting got over. Still, a few representatives of the private school association tried to reach out to the district inspector of schools, Lucknow, so that they may resume physical classroom teaching for students of Classes 9 to 12 and online classes for class 8 and below.

Soon, secretary (technical education) Alok Kumar, in a tweet, announced that polytechnic exams have been postponed for the time being. New semester online classes will begin from January 22. The news gave relief to thousands of polytechnic students who were demanding postponement of physical examinations.

Meanwhile, Lucknow University and all its affiliated degree colleges will remain closed for physical classes till January 23.

The online classes would continue, the registrar said in an order.  The university on January 13 had announced postponement of all exams scheduled between January 15 and 31 after more than 50 hostel inmates tested positive for Covid-19.

Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (KMC) Language University has already postponed all the examinations in view of the current Covid-19 situation. The practical examinations, which were scheduled to start from January 20 and semester exams from January 27, have been postponed.

National PG College on Saturday also postponed the exams to be held between January 17 and 31. The exams to be held from February 1 onwards will be conducted as per the earlier schedule.

“Exams which are being postponed will be rescheduled from February 5, 2022,” said principal Devendra K Singh.

<!–

–>