Panchayat Polls: Confusion Prevails Over Schools Reopening In Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Following confusion over the Odisha government’s revised guidelines, most schools remained shut for students of classes 1 to VII on Monday. Only a few private institutions were open on the day.

The government postponed the reopening of school for junior classes from February 14 to February 28 due to rural polls and the authorities’ unpreparedness. The notice, however, didn’t clarify whether the order is for all schools or for government institutions only.

“There was a lot of confusion and no clarity in the notice issued by the school and mass education department that extended reopening of schools for children of class I to VII. The notice cited the reason for PRI polls for deferment of school reopening, but teachers and staff of private schools are not engaged in election duty, so they should be allowed to reopen,” the principal of a private school here was quoted as saying by The Times of India.

Another school principal also said that schools cannot be reopened without the state government notice. “We cannot reopen schools at our wish. When the government issued notice that schools will reopen on February 28, how can we do it on February 14. We don’t know why the government did not consult all stakeholders before announcing the dates,” the principal said.

State-level association, Confederation of Odisha Private Schools Chairperson BN Patnaik said, “The confederation has requested all private schools in the state to resume classes from February 14 because the elections are being held in government schools of rural areas. We did not force anyone to come to school and continued in online, offline and hybrid mode. As expected, there was very thin attendance on the first day. If we reopen now, then it will take around a month to make things normal for students and parents.”

The five-phase Panchayati Raj Institute (PRI) polls are scheduled in Odisha from February 16 to counting to the end of February 28.

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