Ahead of recommencement of physical classroom teaching in government-run schools, Odisha government on Wednesday announced reopening of hostels for students of Class 10 and Class 12 in the State for the 2021-22 academic session.
The schools, both government and private, are scheduled to reopen on 26 July after the institutions were shut amid a raging pandemic about three months back.
“Hostels of schools communing under the control of School & Mass Education department, Scheduled Tribes & Scheduled Caste Development, Minorities and Backward Classes Welfare department, Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities department, private schools and privately managed English Medium Schools will be reopen from July 26”, stated S&ME Additional Secretary Pratap Kumar Mishra in an official letter.
The department also issued a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the opening of hostels asking the hostel authorities to have an isolation room for emergency use.
There should be an Isolation room available inside the Hostel and if some residents fall seeks, he/she should be isolated immediately and proper care should be taken for his/her treatment, the SOP said while ordering the hostel authorities to adhere to COVID-19 protocol in true letter and spirit.
The Head of the Institute/hostel should ensure that students are kept at appropriate distance and staggered manner, the SOP stated among other must-abide guidelines.