BHUBANESWAR : The School and Mass Education department may close residential school hostels indefinitely if further infections are detected from such institutions.
School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash said if cluster outbreaks continue to surface from residential schools, the government may shut down the institutions to prevent transmission.
He said provision has been made for visit of medical teams to campuses, wherever required, to check the spread of infection.
Keeping large outbreak of Covid infections in residential schools recently in mind, the department has issued instructions to the district education officers (DEOs) asking them to keep a close eye on hostels and report to the nodal officers on a daily basis.
It also asked the DEOs to ensure compliance to Covid appropriate behaviour and standard operating procedure (SOP) in all educational institutions in their jurisdiction.
Stating that the second wave of Covid-19 pandemic in the State is not yet over, department secretary Satyabrata Sahu in a letter to the DEOs advised to ensure that students, teachers and other staff having cold, running nose, fever or any other symptoms of Covid must not be allowed into the campuses.
The DEOs have also been asked to advise those with symptoms to attend classes online and contact the nearest health centres for testing.
At least 53 students of a junior (Plus II) residential college in Dhenkanal had tested positive for coronavirus a couple of days back while 42 hostel inmates of St Mary’s Girls High School in Sundargarh town were put in isolation on November 24 after they tested positive.
Odisha Abhibhabak Mahasangh chairman Basudev Bhatt on Saturday urged the department to issue instructions to all private schools in the State to ensure strict compliance to Covid SOP for the safety of students and staff.