Representatives of the Atmashakti Trust, Odisha Shramajeebee Mancha and Mahila Shramajeebee Mancha, Odisha welcomed the State Government’s decision to reopen primary schools from January 3 next.

They said full-fledged functioning of the schools may not be achieved immediately, but the reopening would at least reduce the children’s worries of not being able to return to schools.

Mancha convenor Anjan Pradhan said the fear of the rise of Omicron cannot be overlooked, but our focus should be on a protected environment for children to continue their studies rather than to delay the decision of school reopening.

He said children have been cut off from education and other vital benefits since schools were closed from mid-March last year. “Our research studies reveal that 45.5% of children were engaged in household work to support their families,” he added.

The All India Students’ Federation (AISF) has also welcomed the decision to reopen primary schools and urged the State Government to stick to its move as students have lost a significant amount of their learning time during the last one and a half years.

Quoting a UNICEF report, AISF State president Sanghamitra Jena said that children’s intellectual and mental development has hampered because of school closure.

Parents are going to shopping malls and restaurants along with their children; then the kids won’t go to schools, she asked.

Whereas only two out of 10 children were Covid victims, what prompts the Government to close schools? Unfortunately, as many as three lakh poor children reportedly drooped out from schools or became child labourers as they were deprived of education, Jena stated.