Post-lockdown, schools in the country may go for odd-even formula

May 9: Till now, the phrase “odd-even” has been popularised by the Delhi government in case of vehicles to curb pollution. Now, the Centre is mulling to introduce odd-even formula for schools after third phase of lockdown gets over. As per a report by the Times of India, the Ministry of Human Resource Development and National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) have started preparing blueprint for opening schools in accordance with the social distancing guidelines after lockdown. As per the plan, the odd and even roll number students will attend classes for a day alternatively, there by reducing their number in school by 50 per cent. Alternatively, there could also be a weekly rotation of students to ensure physical distancing and the appropriate teacher-student ratio.

The Government is also going to come up with the plan of what the students who would be at home would do during their off days. This way both the slots would have enough to engage themselves in and there would be no loss of studies to students. Therefore, resuming classes through an odd-even rotation of the students, along with appropriate safety measures such as wearing masks, using hand sanitisers and temperature monitoring systems seems to be on the cards. However, a final decision in this regard will be taken by the MHRD only after NCERT submits its study manual in this regard.