The Jharkhand government on Monday allowed reopening of schools for class 1 to 12 in 17 districts and also gave its nod for resumption of offline classes in higher education centres after a meeting of the state disaster management authority (SDMA) under the chairmanship of chief minister Hemant Soren.

In seven selected districts, offline classes will only be allowed for standard ninth and above in view of growing incidence of Covid cases. The seven districts include Ranchi, East Singhbhum, Bokaro, Chatra, Deoghar, Seraikela-Kharsawan and Simdega.

The state government also permitted reopening of gyms, parks, zoos, cinema halls, and sporting activities at stadiums. Markets which are currently allowed to operate till 8pm will continue to stay as it is.

State disaster management department minister Banna Gupta, who also holds the health department portfolio, said that the government had taken a judicious call to balance lives and livelihood along with academics this time.

“Following today’s meeting, all classes from 1-12 in schools can resume in 17 districts but in seven districts where cases are still slightly higher currently, we have decided to only allow offline classes for classes 9-12. Colleges and universities however can resume offline mode of teaching while all the exams can be held both online and offline as per the need arrangements of respective institutions,” Gupta said while briefing the media outside the Project Building after the meeting on Monday.

And he added that detailed guidelines will be issued by chief secretary Sukhdev Singh’s office either tonight or on Tuesday morning. Specifically on the stadiums, he said, “All kinds of sporting activities and practice are allowed sans spectators at this moment. This apart, we have also increased the gathering cap to 200 from 100 at marriage functions.”

Notably, call for reopening of schools grew louder in the state with different social outfits citing academic loss, especially to students of junior classes. Even though state had allowed opening of higher classes (six and above) after the phase out of the second wave of the pandemic, it imposed restrictions on schools and colleges early January in the wake of outbreak of the third wave due to Omicron variant.

Junior sections however continued to remain locked for the past 22 months. Education minister Jagarnath Mahto too last week admitted underscored the need to reopen schools citing challenges of digital learning in majority of the schools, mainly those located in remote districts.