The Odisha government on Tuesday announced the reopening of schools, shut for almost 19 months in the wake of the COVID-19 outbreak, for Class-1to Class-5 students across the State from 3 January.
While the decision to reopen the lower classes has raised eyebrows at a time when Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has made a public appeal to stay alert for the third wave, the School and Mass Education Minister Sameer Ranjan Dash allaying fear said: “decision to reopen lower classes has been taken after due consideration”.
The physical classes for Classes 1 to 5 will begin from 3 January in around 27,000 schools in the State. However the lower class teaching will resume on 10 January in schools where summative examination for 10 Classes will be held, the minister informed.
The school and mass education department after consultation with parents, guardians, teachers’ bodies, and school management committees took the final decision in this regard. There will be strict observable COVID-19 protocols to keep the infection at bay.
A fresh Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) will be issued soon, according to which the physical classes of the students will be conducted. The lower classes will be held between 9 am and 12 noon and no mid-day meals will be served in the schools. The dry ration will be provided to students as it is being given to students from Class 1 to 8 after the Covid outbreak.
The State government has already resumed the physical classes for the 6th standard to the 10th standard in a phased manner with periodic reports of students and teachers contracting the disease.