The Assam government has said all schools will remain closed even after the summer vacation due to the prevailing COVID-19 situation in the state and asked authorities to take steps to conduct online classes, an official said on Tuesday.

The Secondary Education Department's Principal Secretary B Kalyan Chakravarthy has ordered officials of district administrations to arrange for online classes so that there is continuity in students' learning process.

The summer vacation in schools ended on June 14. He asked directors of secondary and elementary education, all inspectors of schools, other officials of the department and heads of government and private educational institutes to take steps to conduct online classes until further orders or till the reopening of these institutes.

The order was issued on Monday and came into force with immediate effect. The government had advanced the one-month summer vacation in schools from May 15 amid a raging second wave of COVID-19. The summer vacation in schools is usually held from July 1 to 31.

According to a National Health Mission bulletin, Assam on Monday reported 43 more COVID-19 deaths, which took the toll to 3,994. As many as 3,678 new coronavirus cases pushed the caseload to 4,63,175.