Following Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s instruction, the School and Mass Education (S&ME) Department has formed a special cell at the OSEPA to monitor Covid-19-related incidents in the schools.The Covid Monitoring Cell has been constituted in the office of the State Project Director (SPD), Odisha School Education Programme Authority (OSEPA) with a Command Control Centre.Arati Rout, Joint Director (Utkarsh, Library & CCC) has been appointed as head of the Covid Compliance Officer while Kalpana Hansdah, Deputy Director (Access & Vocational) is the Assistant Covid Compliance Officer. Staffs of the Command Control Centre would collect daily attendance of the Classes-IX, X, XI and XII and information relating to various Covid incidents of the districts and submit it to above officials in addition to their own duties.The Government has also asked all the District Education Officers (DEOs) to constitute a Covid monitoring cell at the district level and appoint a senior officer as Covid Compliance Officer, who would ensure implementation of the Covid protocols in the schools and submit it to the OSEPA on a daily basis. Meanwhile, the School and Mass Education, Principal Secretary, Satyabrata Sahu has issued a fresh SOP for the functioning of schools. In a letter to all DEOs, Sahu said the local authorities, including the health administration, should be updated in case of any major development which affects the offline teaching.
As usual, both online and offline teaching would continue and no student should be forced to come to school. Attendance in offline class is not mandatory.