Odisha Schools To Reopen From January 8, Exams From May 3; Check Details

Bhubaneswar: Odisha schools to reopen from January 8 for Class 10 and Class 12 students. This was informed by the State government on Saturday.

According to sources, students will be taught for at least 100 days including Saturday and Sundays.

The 10th board exams will be held from May 3 to May 15 while the CHSE examinations will be conducted between May 15 and June 11.

Overall guiding principles:

• Online/distance learning shall continue to be the preferred mode of teaching and shall be encouraged.
• Where schools are conducting online classes and some students prefer to attend online classes rather than physically attend school, they may be permitted to do so.
• Online and classroom learning will go in tandem with each other and should continue to share timelines and daily schedules to ensure synchronization.
• Students may attend schools/ institutions only and only with written consent of parents. Attendance must not be enforced and must depend entirely on parental consent.
• District collector will have the final authority to take decisions in this regard to the time and method of school reopening in exceptional circumstances for all the schools in the district.

General guidelines:

• Only schools outside the containment zones shall be allowed to open. Further, students, teachers, and employees living in containment zones will not be allowed to attend the schools. Students, teachers, and employees shall also be advised not to visit areas falling within containment zones.
• Due to the dynamic nature of the situation, these decisions will be taken by the district collector. S/he will also direct the relevant schools to immediately shut down in cease their zone is declared as a containment zone.
• Prior to resumption of activities, all works areas including furniture, libraries, laboratories, storage places, water tanks, kitchen, washroom/toilets and other areas of common use shall be sanitized with particular attention to frequently touched surfaces.
• Schools may not reopen without 100 per cent access to portable drinking water and adequate functional toilets for all students. Any school without access to the above mush fist make these arrangements before reopening.
• Hostel farcicalities are not to be opened at this point of time. Detailed SOP for Hostel operation will be issued when Hostel reopening is deemed safe.
• School provided transportation should also be discouraged to reduce risk. Parents must ensure they take responsibility of the child’s commute to school. Where plying, transport facilities may run at maximum of 50 per cent capacity with adequate sanitization before picking up sand after dropping students.
• High-risk staff members with severe ailments or underlying condition must take extra precaution.
• No students should be coerced to come to school. Only those parents and students who feel comfortable attending school should do so.

It is worthwhile to mention here that the schools were closed in the State since March 17, 2020, due to the Covid pandemic.