Bhubaneswar: Discipline being an important aspect of schooling, the Odisha School and Mass Education Department has made prayer after class compulsory for all the government schools in the Odisha capital.
According to the department, if a prayer is conducted at the end of the day, then it would instil discipline in the students and they would leave the school premises in a regimented manner.
Besides the regular morning prayer, which is conducted at 10am, the Primary, Upper Primary and High School students will be saying a prayer at 4 pm after the classes get over.
“The new system is being implemented in Bhubaneswar on a pilot basis initially and it would be implemented in other parts of the state at a later stage,” stated an official.
To increase student enrolment in schools, the department has decided to expedite the ongoing ‘SMILE’ programme. If required, teachers will be visiting the houses of students to hold a discussion with their parents. It is also planning to take action against parents who avoid parent-teacher meetings (PTMs) conducted in schools.
To ensure transparency in answer sheet corrections in schools, the headmasters of their respective schools will be rechecking a few sample answer sheets. The annual examination will be held in March this year.
Recently, the Odisha School Education Programme Authority (OSEPA) had organized a one-day workshop for the headmasters and headmistresses of government schools of Bhubaneswar, on the premises of Capital High School.