Colleges of Uttarakhand ready to reopen from Dec 15, RT-PCR tests and permission letters from parents made mandatory

Higher education institutions in Uttarakhand, which have been closed since the coronavirus-induced lockdown was imposed in March this year, will open from December 15. The decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat on Wednesday.

A committee chaired by the chief secretary had already submitted its report to the government on opening institutions of higher education in the state which got the Cabinet's nod. RT-PCR tests and



letters of permission from parents are mandatory for students.

The cabinet cleared 27 out of a total of 29 proposals put before it on Wednesday, the sources said. A presentation was also given at the cabinet meeting on how to carry out the COVID-19 vaccination exercise.

Twenty per cent of the state's total population will be vaccinated in the first phase of the exercise, including people above 55 years of age and frontline workers who are more at risk of contracting the infection.