BHUBANESWAR: The State government announced closure of schools on Saturday in 19 districts likely to be affected by the tropical storm.
The districts are Ganjam, Gajapati, Puri, Nayagarh, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Koraput, Rayagada, Cuttack, Khurda, Kandhamal, keonjhar, Angul, Dhenkanal, Balasore, Bhadrak, Jajpur, Malkangiri and Mayurbhanj.
Schools under the School and Mass Education department in these districts will remain shut in view of the IMD forecast of heavy rainfall under the influence of the cyclone. The department also advised students not to visit schools on the day.
It, however, said that if any examination was earlier planned to be held on the day, it will be allowed to be conducted under strict supervision of the district administration concerned. Besides, the department asked the teaching and non-teaching staff to remain available in their respective areas to help the district administration if needed.
The UGC-NET examination scheduled to be held on December 5 has also been rescheduled in five cities of Odisha - Bhubaneswar, Gunupur, Cuttack, Berhampur and Puri. The National Testing Agency (NTA) stated that the revised datesheet for the examination will be updated later. Similarly, the BPUT PhD Entrance Examination 2021-22 has been postponed. The entrance test, scheduled to be held on December 5, will now be conducted on December 12,.