Classroom teaching has already resumed for class 9 and 12 students in the state, strictly following the health safety guidelines.
The notification states that no cooked mid-day meal will be served to class 8 students and they will be given dry ration.
Hostels for class 11 and 8 students will also be reopened along with the date of reopening of schools following the COVID-19 protocol and social distancing norms.
School and Mass Education Minister SR Das said, “The situation of COVID-19 is improving in the state. We will resume classroom teaching for class 11 and 8 students from October 21 and October 25 respectively.”
However, he said that no decision has been taken to reopen the schools for students from class 1 to class 7.
He said that a meeting would be held with all the district education officers of the state on October 16 in this regard and instructions would be issued to start preparations for starting classes for class 8 and 11 students.
Schools are closed since October 9 for Durga Puja and Kumar Purnima and will reopen on October 21.
The notification said that the government has allowed state-run or government-aided or privately managed Odia and English medium schools to reopen for the academic year 2021-22 as part of the strategy for grading opening of schools.
Physical classes will be conducted daily from 10.00 am to 1.30 pm for class 11 and from 9 am for class 8.
The notification said that the orders and guidelines issued by the Department of Health and Family Welfare and the Special Relief Commissioner should be strictly followed. The decision of the Collector and District Magistrates to reopen the schools will be final keeping in view the local circumstances.
The notification said that both online and offline classes will continue and students can join offline classes in consultation with their parents or guardians.
Educational institutions under the administrative control of ST and SC Development, Backward Classes Empowerment of Minorities and Persons with Disabilities can also start classes from the above dates following the prescribed SOPs of the Department of School and Mass Education.
The notification states that parental consent is mandatory for students wishing to stay in the hostel.
It states that the common areas of the hostels, including the mess, should be sanitized frequently and the earlier standard operating procedure issued by the department for the management of hostels should be strictly followed.
Meanwhile, Odisha on Friday reported 467 new COVID-19 cases, 54 less than the previous day, taking the state’s caseload to 10,34,276. Five fresh deaths during the day took the death toll from the coronavirus to 8,279, a health department official said.
.