Coaching centres in Kota re-open with new normal norms

Jaipur, Jan 18 : Around 10 months after the Covid-19 pandemic threw Kota’s Rs 3,000 crore coaching industry towards partial shutdown and brought in a digital switch overnight, the Rajasthan district on Monday opened its doors to students again, following the new normal norms which included ultra-violet lighting for sanitisation in classrooms, and marking seats with stickers to ensure social distancing.
Crowding inside the campus, shaking hands, and maintaining close contact with friends are not permitted at any point of time in the coaching centres, while exchange of drinking water bottles, textbooks, stationary and food items are also not permitted.
On January 6, the Ashok Gehlot government had announced to reopen schools, colleges and coaching centres looking at the dip in Covid cases in the state. A standard operating procedure (SOP) was issued to all the coaching institutes and hostels.
The District Collector of Kota, Ujjawal Rathore, said, “We formed a three-member team with an education officer and representatives of the police and the district administration to do rounds of the institutes from Monday. Many meetings have been held with the heads of coaching institutes and hostels, and more are planned in the coming days.” As per the Covid-19 SOP released by a leading coaching institute in Kota, physical distancing is to be maintained as per the institute’s guidelines.
Also, use of face masks is mandatory at all times inside the institutes.