Bhubaneswar: Odisha Parents’ Federation (OPF) Friday wrote to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik requesting him to take a decision on reopening of schools in consultation with educationists, parents, teachers and school authorities.
In the letter, OPF chairman Basudev Bhatt said, “Online classes have reached only 34 per cent students – 22 lakh out of 60 lakh students in government schools – due to non-availability of android phone, network and financial constraints. For private schools, online classes reached 50-60 per cent of the students.” Thus, around 38 lakh students in government schools and 40-50 per cent in private schools have remained out of the purview of online classes, Bhatt said.
“We have seen the satisfaction level of online classes in Odisha. The quality of online classes is very poor. Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, in line with his Maharashtra counterpart, should write to Union Education Minister to restructure the academic calendar else our students will be deprived of quality education,” Bhatt stated.
The OPF has requested the state government to start a new academic calendar from November-December or January 2021 to July or August 2021 and 180 days should be covered in these 7-8 months, without any holidays. Then it will be adjusted in next calendar year.
“We have also discussed with school associations and they are in no mood to accept the reopening of institutions September 21. So, the government should take a firm decision to give a clear message to parents on the new academic calendar,” he mentioned.
If the NCERT and ICSE courses are reduced, Classes IX, X, XI and XII students will lose quality study (subjects), Bhatt said, adding, “We should give justice to our students.”