Odisha School Reopening: CM urges parents to encourage their children to attend classes

BHUBANESWAR: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday appealed to parents to send their wards to schools with over 14 lakh students across the state attending physical classes on the first day of reopening of educational institutions. Patnaik described February 7 as a historic day as schools reopened in the state after a gap of nearly one month due to the prevailing COVID-19 situation.

Schools for standards 8 to 12, colleges and universities resumed physical classes during the day. The educational institutions were shut on January 10 in view of the third wave of the pandemic.

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Addressing students and guardians through a video message, the chief minister said, "Children will have no difficulty if they attend schools. They should abide by the guidelines, maintain social distance, wear masks and frequently wash hands."

Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan also expressed happiness over the reopening of schools in Odisha and urged students to attend physical classes without any fear of COVID-19. He also advised children to wear masks and maintain physical distancing norms and asked parents and teachers to ensure that students follow the guidelines.

The chief minister said it is the duty and responsibility of guardians to encourage their children to go to school and maintain COVID protocols. Patnaik appealed to students not to get panicked about the coronavirus infection and asked them to enjoy their time in schools. Reciting a Sanskrit shloka, 'Gurudeva Bhava', the CM urged teachers to help students make up for learning loss and ensure that children study what they could not in the last two years due to the closure of schools.

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Of the 24,45,407 enrolled students in 37,533 schools across the state, 14,42,790 were present for the classroom teaching on the first day, the School and Mass Education department said. Deogarh reported the maximum turnout in the higher secondary level with 85 per cent of students attending the offline classes. It also recorded 91 per cent attendance in the secondary level, while Kendrapara registered 77 per cent, the highest among districts of Odisha in elementary standards. The chief minister asked school managing committees to pay special attention to the safety of students. For students of kindergarten to class 7, schools will reopen on February 14. Odisha logged 1,497 new infections, which took the COVID-19 tally to 12,68,308, while the daily positivity rate dropped to 3.18 per cent. The COVID death toll in the state now stands at 8,754.