The state government announced on Thursday that schools and colleges in Gujarat will go “fully offline” from February 21, and night curfews in six of the eight cities will be lifted from Friday, as part of a slew of relaxations in light of the declining Covid-19 cases.
According to a tweet by Education Minister and spokes-person of the state government, Jitu Vaghani, the government decided to reopen all schools and colleges under the aegis of the Gujarat education department, “fully for offline classes” at a core committee meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel.
The decision will take effect from February 21 to ensure that administrators of schools and colleges and its students get ample time to shift to offline classes, in compliance with the Covid-19 guidelines, he said.
Meanwhile, the home department issued an order that night curfew from 12 midnight to 5 am will now be implemented in only two cities, Ahmedabad and Vadodara from February 18 to February 25.
The revised order dated February 17 also states that “all types of political, social, educational, cultural, religious events, sporting events, and any other kind of gatherings in auditoriums, assembly halls, etc.” can be organised with 75 per cent occupancy in case of an open space and 50 per cent occupancy in closed spaces.
The cap on attendees at weddings has also been removed, with the order stating that notifying weddings on ‘Digital Gujarat Portal’ are no longer required.
The earlier order had specified a cap of 150 attendees in open spaces for political, social, cultural and religious gatherings and at up to 50 per cent occupancy in closed spaces. Weddings were permitted with a limit of 300 attendees in open spaces and 50 per cent of occupancy in closed spaces, with prior intimation of the event on the Gujarat Digital Portal.
In a press release, the state government added on Thursday that the decision to further ease the curbs were taken in light of decreasing Covid-19 cases and keeping in mind the interests of trade and business, small businesspersons and traders, and economic situation of businesspersons/traders and employees.