BHUBANESWAR: With the Centre mulling to introduce odd-even formula for schools after third phase of lockdown, School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash on Thursday said Odisha will not take any decision in this regard now and may consider it later.
Though the lockdown 3.0 ends on May 17, Dash said the State Government has already declared that schools will reopen after June 17. "It will be too early for us to announce any such measure now. We will review the situation prior to opening of schools in the State and decide accordingly," he added.
According to sources, the Ministry of Human Resource Development and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) have started preparing blueprint for opening schools in accordance with the social distancing guidelines after lockdown. As per the plan, the odd and even roll number students will attend classes for a week alternatively, there by reducing their number in school by 50 per cent.
However, a final decision in this regard will be taken by the MHRD only after NCERT submits its study manual in this regard. Meanwhile, Dash who reviewed implementation of online education in Odisha Adarsha Vidyalayas (OAVs), stressed on the motto of ‘buildings are closed, the schools are not.’
He said that OAV Sangathan has created three online hubs - Central, North and South - in the State to impart online education to 59,931 students in 214 Adarsha Vidyalayas.
“The online teaching is being carried out through different platforms including Google meet, Zoom and WhatsApp,” he said. OAV Sangathan advisor and working president Bijay Kumar Sahoo and OAV State project director Lingaraj Parida also attended the review meeting online.