BHUBANESWAR: With the State government restricting offline classes for all students up to higher secondary (Plus II) level in view of rising cases of Covid-19, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) PK Jena said doubt clearing sessions can be organised for class X and XII students in small batches.
Jena said alternative teaching methods will be encouraged at school level while doubt clearing sessions can also be organised for class X and XII students, in view of board exams, with parental consent. As per the fresh Covid guidelines issued by the SRC for January, offline classes will not be held January 7 onwards in any school from elementary to higher secondary level to keep spread of the virus in check.
School and Mass Education secretary Bishnupada Sethi said stress will be on online classes to ensure studies are not hampered. “We will reactivate all digital learning programmes which were being carried out during last year’s online teaching,” Sethi said.
This apart, the new SME secretary said alternative teaching methods that had been in place, will be re-introduced to reach out to the students who do not have access to any digital platform or internet facility. Parents’ bodies, meanwhile, have welcomed the decision of the State government to switch to online mode in view of rising cases of Covid and fear of Omicron spread.
Chairman of Odisha Abhibhabak Mahasangh Basudev Bhatt, however, urged the State government to come up with an alternative as Covid-19 pandemic may not end soon. Apart from online teaching, government must work out how classes could be conducted in offline mode in small batches and in a staggered manner to ensure even when there is outbreak of pandemic, classroom teaching of students is not hampered, Bhatt said.