After allowing schools to reopen for class X and class XII recently, the Odisha government has now also decided to reopen colleges for physical classes from January 11 for final year undergraduate and postgraduate programmes for the 2020-21 academic session.
The penultimate semester exams for the 2020-21 academic session will be held from March 16 to March 31 and the final semester examination for the ongoing session will be held from June 16 to June 30.
The Higher Education Department has decided so after taking a broad view of the improvement seen in the Covid-19 situation in the state. The students of the current session have been struggling with their academics because of the pandemic and the decision will provide some respite to the students who have been worried about the uncertainty around reopening of educational institutions.
The traditional – and still essential – classroom teaching had been cancelled since March last year after the pandemic triggered a series of lockdowns around the state. The decision to resume classroom teaching ahead of the semester exams will be a beneficial one for the students.
The government has directed higher education institutes to hold regular classes from next week so that the syllabus is covered thoroughly, irrespective of how much of it was completed through online classes till now. The government has also stated that in case of students missing out on classes, especially those who hail from containment zones and are not allowed to physically attend classes, classroom sessions should be recorded periodically and shared over the internet with them.
The state government has made it clear that Covid-19 safety guidelines, including those on social distancing, regular sanitisation and hygiene, wearing of masks and gloves for personal protection, will be put in place during the upcoming classroom sessions. The government has given colleges the freedom to extend their teaching hours, if necessary, for the sake of students and better teaching. If any class has the possibility of becoming crowded, students may be divided into batches for classes.
To maintain a Covid-19 free environment in college campuses, the government has prohibited staff, teachers and students residing in active containment zones from being present on campus.
While the state government had earlier decided not to reopen hostels for class X and class XII students, it has now allowed hostels for degree students to reopen from January 10. However, this will only be applicable for final year UG and PG students as well as research scholars and PhD students.
To make up for lost time during the prolonged closure, the government has asked colleges to hold classes on all days of the week, except Sundays, until the examination period. The only holidays that will be observed are Republic Day on January 26, Saraswati Puja on February 16, and Utkal Divas on April- 1.
Comment here