Guwahati, Oct 19 (IANS): After nearly two years, students of Classes 1 to 8 as well as of Class 11 headed back to their schools as all government and private institutions in Assam re-opened on Tuesday.

Officials of the Education and Health Departments said that special precautionary measures as per the standard operating procedures are being followed in schools to avoid spread of Covid-19.

According to the officials, as directed by the state government, apart from sanitising the school premises and classrooms and vaccinations, other Covid protocols including distancing are being followed while conducting the classes with physical attendance of students.

An Education Department order said that the classes with physical attendance would be held for three days in a week for all the classes from 1 to 8 while from Class 9 onwards, teaching would be daily.

The state government earlier stipulated the criteria about reopening of physical classes based on the ground situation of the Covid infection.

"If the positivity rate of Covid infection remained above two per cent on a particular day in a particular area, the educational institutions in that area would be closed till the positivity rate goes below two per cent. There should not be more than 30 students in a section who would be allowed to attend the physical classes and the head of the institution would assess the required number of sections and open more sections, if required," it said in an order.

The order said that if any Covid-19 positive case is reported in a particular school, the school authority must inform the nearest health and district authorities and the classes in that school would resume only after testing all students, teachers, and staff.

Earlier, classes for higher education resumed across the state. Physical classes resumed for the upper primary sections, six months after it had briefly reopened in April this year but again it stopped after the second wave of the pandemic struck.