BHUBANESWAR: Schools across Odisha reopened for Class IX students after a gap of over four months on Monday. All government, aided and private schools resumed classes in physical mode for class IX students with strict compliance to Covid-19 guidelines of the State government and the standard operating procedure (SOP) issued by the School and Mass Education (SME) department. School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash said the SOP issued for offline classes of class X students will also be followed scrupulously by the schools for class IX.
Classes will be held from 9 am to 12.30 pm on weekdays except Sunday and public holidays. Hostels for students of class IX too were reopened across the State as per Covid norms. Meanwhile, the fear of a possible third wave of Covid-19 which is expected to infect more children has forced the State government to take more time to decide on reopening of schools at the elementary level.
Dash said no decision regarding conduct of offline classes for class I to VIII has been taken yet. “We are closely monitoring the situation and the final decision in this regard will be taken after review of the situation,” he said.
Sources in the department said keeping in view the challenges in ensuring Covid appropriate behaviour and social distancing in campuses especially for children of lower age group, the department intends to wait for more time.