Odisha government Saturday announced that schools will reopen for students of standards X and XII from January 8 and will follow the detailed standard operating procedure to be strictly implemented by the authorities, a senior official said.
However, hostels will not reopen now and the school buses will not be available for the students. The parents can make their own arrangements to take their wards to school, the official said.
A maximum of 25 students will be allowed to attend one class and each student will have a specific seat in the class as is usually done during examinations.
Schools across Odisha are closed since March in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The school and mass education department have, however, been holding online classes.
The students of standards X and XII will be given 100 days of classroom teaching before they appear in the annual examinations in May, the official said adding that classes will be held on Saturdays and Sundays too.
Classroom classes for students of standard X will be held from January 8 to April 26, while that for students of standard XII from January 8 to April 28, a notification issued by the education department said.
Practical exams for standard X students will be held from April 27 to May 2 and for standard XII students from April 29 to May 14, it said.
The annual board exam of Class X students will be from May 3 to 15, while the Council of Higher Secondary Education will hold exams for Class XII students from May 15 to June 11.
For the reopening of schools, the guidelines issued by the health and family welfare department and the special relief commissioners' office will be strictly followed.
The decision has been taken by the government keeping in mind the larger interest of students of Class X and XII so that the students of our state can appear timely for all India competitive tests, the notification said.
A detailed SOP has been prepared which will be adopted for reopening of the government, government-aided and private schools across the State.
As per the SOP online learning will continue to be the preferred mode of teaching and will be encouraged. Students may attend schools with the written consent of parents but attendance must not be enforced and must depend entirely on parental consent.
Online and classroom learning will go in tandem with each other and will continue to share timelines and daily schedules, according to the SOP.
Wherever schools are conducting online classes and some of its students prefer to attend online classes, they should be permitted to do so, it said.
However, the hostels will not open now and the school buses will not be available for the students. The parents may take their wards in their own arrangement. A maximum of 25 students will be allowed to attend one class and each student will have a specific seat in the class as is usually done during examinations.
The state government in its January guidelines has empowered the school and mass education department and higher education department to reopen schools and colleges keeping in view the prevailing pandemic situation.
Earlier, the state government had reduced 30 per cent of the syllabus for the standard X students.
