Panaji,  The Goa government's expert committee, in a unanimous decision, recommended restarting classes in hybrid mode for students of Class 9 to 12, it was announced on Wednesday.

Briefing reporters, Chief Minister Pramod Sawant said that the recommendation will be placed before a Covid management taskforce headed by him, which will take a final decision on re-opening of classes for students from Class 9 to 12, in consultation with the Education Department and school managements.

"The Education Department, in consultation with everyone, will take the decision and start these classes step-by-step, while also considering modalities for practical exams, while following all Covid norms," he said.

Earlier, Dr Shekhar Salkar, a member of the expert committee, said that school managements and the Education Department should come up with a detailed SOPs resumption of these classes in hybrid mode.

"What we wanted to do is actually start them (schools) in a hybrid mode. Hybrid mode means if some (parents) think that their children should go to school, then they should send their children to school. Those who do not feel like and can manage it online, they can stay home and study. We recommended hybrid mode.

"There is a double advantage in the sense that because there will be fewer students there will be good social distance. Secondly, because we are recommending starting from Classes 9 to 12 all other classrooms will be empty. So schools will have access to a lot of rooms," he said.

"We should place some restrictions. Teachers should also vaccinate themselves as much as possible. Those not vaccinated should test themselves with RTPCR every eight days," he said.