Colombo, Jul 25 (IANS): Sri Lanka on Monday reopened government-owned public and state-approved private schools, which were closed for nearly a month due to fuel shortages in the wake of the ongoing economic crisis.

However, schools will be open only three days a week on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, and students will be taught online on the other two days of the week, reports Xinhua news agency.

The Ministry of Education also extended the first school term until September 7.

Schools will also not conduct examinations at the end of the first term, and principals have been instructed to conduct alternative forms of evaluation.

President Ranil Wickremesinghe has instructed officials to provide fuel to school buses from all state-run fuel depots.

There are close to 40,000 vehicles that are engaged in transporting students to schools in Sri Lanka.

With the ongoing fuel crisis, the island nation has come to a standstill with handful of vehicles on roads and many people opting to use bicycles as mode of transportation.

For fuel, Sri Lanka had been mainly depending on line of credit issued by India under its $3.5 billion financial assistance given from January this year and the supply ended with the final shipment of 40,000 metric tonnes of diesel received on June 16.