The Higher Education Department on Friday directed principals of degree colleges and vice-chancellors of state public universities to reopen hostels from Sunday. Many students will come to their respective hostels on Sunday before the offline classes start from Monday.
As the institutions will reopen after about a month, the classrooms, hostels, toilets and other utilities will be cleaned and sanitized. Degree colleges and universities were closed since January 10 due to the rise in Covid-19 cases in the third wave of the pandemic. Rama Devi Mahila Vishwavidyalaya Vice-Chancellor Aparajita Choudhary said that they are ready to start offline classes for all the students. “We will be conducting tutorial classes for students who have doubts on certain chapters of their courses. Students will be counseled to prepare them for the offline examination.”
Kalahandi University Bhawanipatna Vice Chancellor Sanjay Kumar Satpathy said that they are ready to welcome the students on Monday. “We will complete the cleaning and cleaning work by Sunday. We will be conducting doubt clearing classes for Plus II students and undergraduate (UG) final year students who will appear for offline exams very soon,” he said.
He said that missed theory and practical classes would be conducted for science students. Due to the closure of degree colleges and universities, practical classes could not be held as per the schedule.
Similarly, other institutions including Utkal University, FM University Balasore, Berhampur University and Sambalpur University were all set to resume offline classes from Monday. Most of the institutes will focus on conducting practical/lab classes at the earliest. After conducting some offline classes for each subject, the respective institutes will conduct the examinations.
Higher education institutions will follow the existing Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) while conducting offline classes and academic activities. Wearing of face mask or face cover will be mandatory. Institutions should ensure frequent hand washing or sanitizing on their campuses. Social distancing will be followed in classrooms, libraries and laboratories. These institutions should encourage self-monitoring of health.
The department has also asked its educational institutions to conduct all examinations only through offline mode following the COVID-19 guidelines.
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