shimla the himachal pradesh government decided monday to keep all schools and colleges closed till december 31 and clamped a night curfew in four districts as the state fights a spurt in coronavirus cases the night curfew will be in place from tuesday to december 15 in shimla mandi kangra and kullu districts from 8 pm to 6 am states parliamentary affairs minister suresh bhardwaj said till december 31 only 50 per cent of class iii and iv employees on the rolls will attend government offices each day gatherings at social cultural and political events will be capped at 200 people and those who dont wear masks in public will cough up a fine of rs 1000 the fresh curbs were announced after a cabinet meeting chaired by chief minister jai ram thakur there has been a sharp increase in the number of cases and deaths in the hill state this month 235 of the 547 pandemic deaths so far have taken place in november on october 31 the state had recorded 22060 coronavirus infections a little over three weeks later on monday evening the number stood at 34442 according to the health department data the state has 6535 active cases now compared to 2880 at the end of last month meanwhile the office of kangra superintendent of police was ordered shut for two more days after remaining closed for three days following covid19 cases among its staff six more coronavirus cases were detected there an official said in dharamshala most schools in himachal pradesh had reopened only on november 1 after remaining shut for months due to the coronavirus pandemic but with infections being reported from some of them the state government had ordered all educational institutions shut till november 25 now they will remain closed till december 31 bhardwaj said online studies would begin from november 26 the minister said teachers will continue to work from home till further orders offices of high schools senior secondary schools and colleges will also function from november 26 principals can call faculty members to work if required he added he said students in classes 1 to 4 and classes 6 and 7 would be promoted as per the provisions of the right to education act the final examinations for classes 5 and 8 to 11 will be conducted in march he added the himachal pradesh board exams for classes 10 and 12 will take place in march with 30 per cent relaxation in syllabus