Schools in Goa resumed physical sessions for all classes on Monday, with students appearing happy and excited to be back on campus after the coronavirus-induced break.
Most of the schools reported good attendance in the morning, state education director Bhushan Savaikar told news persons.
The educational institutions have been asked to strictly follow the standard operating procedures and COVID-19 appropriate behaviour, he said.
The schools in the coastal state had moved to the online mode after the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020.
On Monday, the schools resumed offline sessions for Classes 1 to 12 as well as the pre-primary ones, Sawaikar said.
There is enthusiasm among students as they are returning to physical classes after such a gap, he said.
In the wake of a decline in COVID-19 cases in Goa, the state education department had last week issued a circular for the resumption of offline classes from Monday.
The education department had also instructed schools to conduct the exams in offline mode only and not to make uniforms mandatory for students.
It had also said that timing concession, if required, may be given to students in initial days.
On Sunday, Goa reported 40 new COVID-19 cases and three fatalities, raising the infection tally in the state to 2,44,713 and the death toll to 3,792, as per official figures.
meanwhile
All major political parties contesting the February 14 Goa Assembly elections, including BJP, Congress, AAP and TMC, have promised resumption of mining operations in the state, but voters feel that the assurance may not see the light of day as the issue has been raised just with an eye on polls and will be forgotten after that.
The mining industry, which used to be one of the major sources of revenue for Goa, had come to a grinding halt in the state in March 2018 after the Supreme Court quashed 88 mining leases.
