Odisha Govt Revises Guidelines For Reopening Of Schools

Bhubaneswar: Hours after announcing Unlock 6.0 guidelines, the Odisha government on Saturday revised those for reopening of schools in the state.

According to the latest notification by the Office of Special Relief Commissioner, School and Mass Education Department will take appropriate decision on the date of reopening of Classes IX-XII, in a graded manner, after November 15  in consultation with stakeholders and issue SOP.

The earlier order stated that all academic institutions will remain closed till November 30. However, classes from Class IX to Class XII in all schools under the School and Mass Education Department will reopen from November 16.

Notwithstanding closure of academic institutions, the followings will be permitted:

a. Conduct of examinations (academic, competitive and entrance tests),
evaluation and other administrative activities.

b. Online/ distance learning shall continue to be permitted and shall be encouraged.

c. School and Mass Education Department/ Higher Education Department may permit teaching and non-teaching staff to be called to the schools for online teaching/tele-counselling and related work, in areas outside the Containment Zones only as per Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) issued by the Ministry of Education/ Health & Family Welfare (MOHFW), GOI.

d. Higher Education Institutions will be permitted to open only for research scholars (PhD) and post-graduate students in science and technology stream requiring laboratory, experimental work.

e. All training activities including skill and professional development

Schools across Odisha have remained closed for around eight months since March in view of the COVID-19 pandemic.