A course on disaster management will be taught as a compulsory subject during the first year at colleges in Odisha, the state's Higher Education Minister Arun Sahoo said.

The move comes after the Odisha government had decided on May 29 to include disaster and pandemic management in high school and college curricula.

"Odisha State Higher Education Council has prepared a new course 'Environmental Studies and Disaster Management' for +3 (Plus III) 1st-year arts, science and commerce students from this year as (a) compulsory subject," Arun Sahoo tweeted on Friday. Sahoo said the course was prepared in accordance with the cabinet decision on May 29 and the direction of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik.

The cabinet had said everyone in the state should be well prepared to face the challenges posed by disasters, such as frequent cyclones and also the COVID pandemic. Cyclone Yaas had left a trail of devastation in the state on May 26, bringing heavy rain, damaging houses, destroying farmlands and disrupting the electrical network.