Odisha: Physical classes for 8, 11 standard students to resume from October 21

BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government on Friday announced resumption of physical classes for students of 8th and 11th standards from October 21 as the state is witnessing a declining trend in COVID-19 cases. Classroom teaching for students of classes 9 and 12 has already been resumed in the state with strict adherence to health safety guidelines.

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“The COVID situation has been improving in the state. We will resume classroom teaching for students of classes 8 and 11 from October 21. A notification will be issued soon,” School and Mass Education Minister S R Dash said. No decision has been taken for reopening of schools for students from class 1 to class 7, he said.

Schools remained closed from October 9 on the occasion of Durga Puja and Kumar Purnima and will reopen on October 21. Odisha on Thursday logged 521 new COVID-19 cases, 94 less than the previous day, taking the state’s caseload to 10,33,809, while six fresh fatalities pushed the coronavirus death toll to 8,274.

Recently, Goa chief minister Pramod Sawant said the government has decided to reopen schools for Classes 9 to 12 from Monday, October 18 in a phased manner, as per report.

While the Karnataka government will take a decision on reopening of schools for primary classes after expert committee meeting, CM Basavaraj Bommai said as per report.

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The Himachal Pradesh government allowed the reopening of all government and private schools for students of Class 8 from October 11 with strict adherence to COVID-19 guidelines.

(With inputs from PTI)