‘30% Odisha kids didn’t return to schools after pandemic’

BHUBANESWAR: After discovering that about 30 per cent of students have not returned to schools as classroom teaching resumed after a gap of two years due to the pandemic, the Odisha government has asked the district collectors to try reverse the alarming trend.

Analysing the daily attendance data from schools collected by District Education Officers (DEOS), it was seen that around 70 per cent of students are attending the classes, School and Mass Education Department secretary BP Sethi said in a letter to district heads.

On detailed analysis, it was seen that the attendance in classes 1 to 5 in districts such as Malkanagiri, Boudh, Gajapati, Sambalpur and Nuapada was less than the state average, he wrote. The performance of

On detailed analysis, it was seen that the attendance in classes 1 to 5 in districts such as Malkanagiri, Boudh, Gajapati, Sambalpur and Nuapada was less than the state average

Malkanagiri, Boudh, Sambalpur and Nuapada is also poor in case of attendance in classes 6 to 8, he added.

In the secondary section, attendance in schools in Gajapati, Bolangir, Bargarh, Sonepur, Nuapada, Cuttack,

Khordha, Koraput, Ganjam, Boudh, Malkangiri, Keonjhar, Sambalpur is less than the state average, Sethi said.

The overall attendance in higher secondary classes is abysmally low in Gajapati, Sonepur, Baragarh, Kandhamal and Nuapada, which is a matter of concern, he mentioned.

“The above figures lead us to believe that thorough analysis has to be made to know the whereabouts of the absentee students. It may so happen, these students who are not attending the offline classes might have dropped out/ moved out along with their parents/ lost interest in academic activities due to noncontinuance of the teaching schedule due to the pandemic situation and many other reasons, which need analysis,” he noted.