Online classes would resume for students, state education minister said.
Telangana has decided to close all schools and colleges, except medical colleges from Wednesday as a precautionary measure.
Making the announcement in the state assembly, Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy said the decision was taken amid apprehensions that coronavirus numbers should not explode. She said online classes would resume for students.
"After a thorough review of the situation, after consulting parents, and keeping in view the health of students and teachers, the government has decided to temporarily close all educational institutions across the state from tomorrow (24.3.2021) as a precautionary measure to curb the spread of corona in the state," the minister said.
"These closure orders apply to all hostels, gurukul schools, government and private educational institutions in the state except medical colleges," the government has said.
"We have seen coronavirus cases being reported from certain educational institutions. The government believes that the corona cases might explode if teaching and non-teaching activities in educational institutions are allowed," she added.
Schools have already been closed in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Chhattisgarh, she pointed out.
The decision comes even as in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh, as many as 163 students tested positive at a private college in Rajamahendravaram city in East Godavari district.
Incidentally, East Godavari today crossed the 1.25 lakh mark in total COVID-19 cases. The state had witnessed the worst spread of the virus last year with several ''super-spreader'' events.
Andhra Pradesh medical and health department said they suspected one of the students had carried the virus from his family and infected fellow students in the intermediate (Class XI-XII) college. All of them have been put under quarantine.
"We have isolated the infected students and placed them in quarantine in special rooms in the college. They are being monitored by doctors and other medical staff," he added.
About 400 students in the college were tested. Those not infected were sent home. RT-PCR tests are also being conducted in other educational institutions.
The area in Rajamahendravaram has been declared as a containment zone and necessary measures were put in place to check the spread of the contagion.
Deputy Chief Minister (Health) AKK Srinivas (Nani) reviewed the situation with Health Department Principal Secretary Anil Kumar Singhal, Commissioner Bhaskar Katamaneni
and other officials and directed them to completely sanitise the college and other areas where the coronavirus spread.
The minister said 35 containment zones had been set up in the district as COVID-19 cases were detected in Kakinada, Mummidivaram, Ramachandrapuram and Rajamahendravaram.