West Bengal shuts schools & colleges amid Omicron fear, check official statement

West Bengal has decided to close all schools, colleges and other educational institutions from Monday, January 3. This decision has been announced by Chief Secretary of the state HK Dwivedi on January 2, 2022. In the view of current COVID-19 situation where cases are rising rapidly throughout the country once again, many other measures have also been taken. As per government statement, "The decision to close schools was taken after reviewing the current Covid situation in the state and amid concerns of the first-spreading Omicron variant."

“All academic activities in schools, colleges and universities shall remain closed. Only administrative activities shall be permitted with 50% of employees at a time,” the government order reads.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on December 29 directed officials to review the overall COVID-19 situation in the state. She further suggested that schools, colleges might be shut down for some time if the situation demands. She said, "COVID-19 cases are on the rise... there are a few Omicron cases also. So, review the situation in the state. We may consider closing down schools and colleges for some time."  On December 31, the teachers and non teaching staff having cough, cold or mild fever were told not to attend schools till they test negative. West Bengal School Education Department informed teachers about the same.

Haryana shuts schools and colleges again till January 12 amid spurt in COVID-19 cases

Haryana schools and colleges have been closed from Sunday, January 2, 2022. This has been decided considering a sharp surge in COVID cases. The state is detecting fresh Omicron cases over the last few days. In Haryana, schools and colleges will now be shut as the government announced new restrictions amid rising cases along with 'Mahamari Alert.'  

Haryana Schools and colleges were reopened earlier as the state reported a significant downtrend in COVID-19 cases at that time. As the cases were declining at that time, it was proposed that Haryana colleges and schools may resume offline classes with 100% capacity from December 1, 2021. However, since the fear of Omicron spread, this idea was not implemented and offline classes continued with 50% capacity.