All the secondary schools in Odisha be opened soon after lockdown instead of opening them on July as the education of the high school students is getting hampered, the secondary school teachers association has demanded.
The secretary of All Odisha Secondary School Teachers Association, Prakash Mohanty said Odisha is the first State to announce that it would not open its schools till July 31. “By keeping the schools closed till then, the education of thousands of children in secondary classes have been hampered. For students of Class 8, 9 and 10 each month after summer vacation is crucial and any loss in classes would disrupt their academic learning. The government should reconsider its earlier decision and open the schools after the lockdown,” said Mohanty.
Mohanty said though the state government was trying to teach the students of secondary classes through WhatsApp and other online methods, it was hardly adequate as many children in rural areas did not have access to smartphones and net connectivity was erratic.
Mohanty also appealed the government to shift the quarantine centres running in schools to other buildings so that they can be properly sanitised and made fit for the school children to resume their classes. He also demanded that state government should announce an insurance cover of Rs 50 lakh for each teacher who would do matric exam paper valuation amid the Covid-19 outbreak.
Meanwhile, the students of Rama Devi Women’s University in Bhubaneswar on Thursday locked the main gate of the university demanding cancellation of their the final semester examinations of Plus III and Post-Graduate streams.
The students, who staged a road blockade, said that while the state government has strictly enforced the social distancing guidelines, the university has asked them to appear in the semester examinations on June 18. “If any of these students are afflicted with COVID-19, there is every possibility that they will infect the virus among the students here. In this case, who will be responsible for it,” asked one of the striking students.
