Odisha schools reopening: SOP issued for Classes 8, 11; Details here

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Government today issued Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) regarding reopening of schools for the students of Classes 8 and 11. The schools were earlier closed for the students due to the COVID-19 situation in the state.

The government has decided to resume offline classes for Class 11 and Class 8 students from October 21 and 25, respectively.

As per the SOP issued by the School and Mass Education Department, classes for Standard-8 students will be held from 9 am to 12.30 pm. Likewise, classes for Standard-11 students will take place from 10 am to 1.30 pm.

While the online classes will continue, students can attend the offline classes in consultation with their parents/ guardians.

This apart, cooked mid-day meal will not be served to the students. Instead, dry ration will be provided to the students as being provided earlier, the SOP said.

“Following the direction of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, we have decided to start the physical teaching for Class 11 students from October 21. Similarly, a decision has been taken to resume the physical mode teaching for Class 8 students from October 25,” said School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash today.

“A meeting will be held tomorrow (October 16) with all district education officers (DEOs) of the state in this regard and instructions will be issued to initiate preparations for the commencement of classes for Class 8 and 11 students,” he said.

When asked about the plan to resume physical classes for students of Class 1 to 7, the minister said, “The department will take a decision in this regard at a later stage. The state government has already resumed physical classes for the Class 9, 10 and 12 students.”