February 4, 2022
BHUBANESWAR – The Odisha government on Thursday announced the reopening of physical classroom teaching for above standard 8 students from 7 February and for lower classes from 14 February in view of considerable improvement in the 3rd wave of COVID-19 situation.
“Students right from standard 1 to the university have academically suffered a lot due to the prevailing health crisis in the past two years. The government has taken note of grievances of students and parents in this regard and has decided to reopen classes to enable the students to make up for the academic loss”, State’s Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mahapatra said on Thursday.
The decision in this regard has been taken keeping in view the fact that covid situation has currently been brought under control. The severity of Covid and omicron variants is less severe in the third wave as there is minimal load on hospitals. The daily infection has decreased. Besides, the positivity is also on a decline, Mahapatra said in a video message.
The physical classroom teaching in schools for class-8 to class-10, higher secondary schools, colleges, universities and technical institutions will recommence from 7 February while the physical classes for students from standard 1 to standard 7 will resume from 14 February.
“All Educational Institutions, imparting any type of education of the level of Class – 8 and above including schools, colleges, ITIs, Polytechnics, Degree Colleges and Professional Colleges and Universities, should start physical classroom teaching with effect from 7 February”, the Special Relief Commission’s notification stated.
However, the students will be given the choice either to opt for the online or the offline classes. Attendance in the physical class is not mandatory.
Short-term training and skill development training centres will reopen from February 7. Hostels associated with the educational institutions and training centres will reopen as well from 7 February.
The concerned government departments will accordingly issue separate Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the institutions and training centres functioning under their purview.
There will be classroom assessment tests for the 9th and 11th standard students while the board of secondary education and council of higher secondary education will conduct the annual examination as per the schedule.
Examinations in Higher Education Institutions, including Technical and Professional Institutions, may be conducted as per approved guidelines prevailing just before the closure of these Institutions on 10 January.
The schools and colleges will conduct bridge courses and short-term courses to make up for the loss of study of students during the past two years. The concerned departments are also authorized to cut short the summer vacation to compensate for the pandemic-induced study loss of students, Chief Secretary Mahapatra added.