A school in the city has started conducting online classes after the state government announced closure of all educational institutions till April 15 as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus.

Garden High International School is conducting classes over Skype for students of classes IX to XII, who are logging in from their homes to attend lectures in different subjects according to the day’s timetable.

Since the school follows two international curriculums — the UK-based Cambridge and Edexcel board — the shutdown has not coincided with term break as in the case of ICSE, CBSE or state board schools.

The new session, in most schools, begins in April. Students were either going to school to check answer scripts of recently concluded exams or to take part in non-academic activities before educational institutions were shut down.

“This is the time of regular classes for us. The board exams are scheduled for May-June. We decided to conduct online classes so that class hours are not lost. This is the way technology can be used,” said Anuradha Das, the director of Garden High International School. The classes are being conducted for 75-odd students.

Students who attended the classes felt that it was a “workable alternative”. “We have a WhatsApp group where we shared our Skype IDs. We had two classes, psychology and English, on Tuesday. Each class was an hour long. It was important because we have our board exams in a couple of months. We could also ask questions,” said Arjesh Gupta, a Class XI student who has three classes lined up on Wednesday.

“There were 11 of us attending the online lecture on Tuesday and there were slight technological glitches but nothing major,” Arjesh said.

Teachers are also attending to individual WhatsApp video calls to clarify doubts and sending question papers and worksheets to students.

Students are sending back assessments online for evaluation. “The teachers have been told not to leave the city because this is not a holiday. They are working from home but not coming to school,” Das said.

Exams for classes VIII and IX have been deferred.

The chief minister’s office had issued a release on Saturday, ordering the closure of all educational institutions in the state, government as well as private, from Monday till the end of the month. On Monday, the closure was extended till April 15.