The Sikkim government has directed all schools in the flood-ravaged state to conduct online classes for students of Class nine and above.

The direction for online classes was given to compensate for the loss of class hours due to the closure of educational institutions till October 15 after the flash floods, anofficial of the education department said.

"As you are aware, the week-long closure of schools has resulted in significant academic loss and therefore keeping in mind the interest of the students and to mitigate/compensate the impact of this closure all private and government secondary and senior secondary schools in the state are advised to conduct online class for classes IX, X, XI & XII respectively whenever possible during this closure period," the department said in a circular on Monday.

The Sikkim government had initially shut schools for four days after the October 4 flash flood, that wrecked large-scale devastation in the mountain state.

The closure was later extended to October 15 and all government and private schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions was brought under the order.

At least 70 people have lost their lives in the calamity and 80 others are still missing. The total number of affected population is 87,300, the Sikkim State Disaster Management Authority said.

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