The Odisha Government will be reopening the colleges and universities tomorrow for the pre-final year undergraduate students and first-year postgraduate students after months of online classes due to COVID-19 pandemic. The students who are in their pre-final year UG programme and first-year PG programme have been allowed to attend the classes in person from tomorrow with COVID-19 precautionary measures. Staggered entry, maintaining respiratory etiquettes are some of the guidelines for attending classes from tomorrow in Odisha.
The Odisha Government has already started the physical classes in offline mode for the students of final-year undergraduate and postgraduate progammes from January 11, 2021. Hostels have also reopened from January 10 only for the students of final year undergraduate, postgraduate, PhD, MPhil and other research scholars.
UGC Guidelines For Resuming Offline Classes
The UGC guidelines on resuming offline classes in colleges and universities suggest smaller class sizes in order to comply with COVID-19 social distancing norms. The colleges and universities have been asked to restrict several activities including visits of outside experts to the campus, study tours, and field visits. Colleges and universities, as per the UGC guidelines on resuming classes, have to provide study materials online and should provide access to e-resources to the students who would prefer studying online while staying at home.
It has been made mandatory for all the persons coming to colleges and universities to wear facemasks. Social distancing should be maintained in classrooms and, if needed, crowded classes can be divided into batches and teaching hours in a day can be extended, the guideline said.
