Lucknow, Nov 17 (PTI) Higher education institutes in Uttar Pradesh will start classes from November 23 following UGC guidelines, an official spokesperson said Tuesday.

The classes will run with certain restrictions like maintaining social distancing, using hand sanitisers, thermal scanning and other facilities, according to the government order.

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Additional Chief Secretary, Higher Education, Monika Garg has issued a detailed order to all the state and private universities, district magistrates and registrars, the spokesperson said.

The classes will be run in a phased manner and it has been made mandatory for teachers, students and employees to wear identity cards, he said.

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The institutions have been asked to prepare an academic calendar and run classes as per rotation with 50 per cent students.

The UGC had last week notified guidelines for reopening of universities and colleges across the country which have been closed since March in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.

For central universities and other centrally-funded higher education institutions, the decision for reopening of campuses has been left to the vice-chancellors and heads.

However, for state universities and colleges, the respective state governments were asked to take a call.  

The universities and colleges were asked to plan the opening of campuses in a phased manner, with such activities that adhere to COVID-19 norms, including social distancing, use of face masks and other protective measures.

As per the UGC guidelines, students and staff are advised not to visit areas falling within containment zones.  

Universities across the country were closed on March 16 to contain the spread of coronavirus infection. A nationwide lockdown came into effect on March 25.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)