The Odisha government has decided to reopen primary schools from January 3 next year.

Primary schools across the state have been closed for the past two years because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

School and mass education minister Samir Ranjan Dash told The Telegraph, “We have decided to reopen the primary schools from Class 1 to Class V from January 3. We have around 27,000 schools. Strict instructions have been issued to the school authorities to follow the Covid guidelines.”

Dash said: “The schools which have classes from 1 to 10 will reopen from January 10. The decision to reopen the schools has been taken following feedback from parents to reopen the schools.”

The classes will be held from 9 am to 12 noon without break.

The minister has also made it clear that the vaccination programme in the schools will continue as per the Government of India guidelines in a phased manner.

Meanwhile, the Odisha government on Tuesday announced that children in the 15-18 age group will be vaccinated from January 3.

“We will try to either create a separate queue for the children at the existing centres or set up separate vaccination centres to administer the doses to them,” said director, family welfare, Dr Bijay Panigrahi.

Nearly 25 lakh children in the age group of 15 to 18 years will be inoculated.