Karnataka: Government Schools To Reopen On New Year For Classes 10, 12, With Consent From Parents

Even though the new strain of coronavirus is said to have found carriers in capital city Bengaluru, Karnataka has decided to restart classes in government schools from 1 January 2021.

Speaking at a school in Bengaluru today, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education S Suresh Kumar said that though classes would be restarted, it wasn’t mandatory for parents to send their children to school.

He said the choice lay with parents. “If you feel online education isn’t as effective as training by teachers physically present in classrooms, you can send them to school,” elaborated Kumar.

Parents are required to give a consent letter permitting their wards to attend classes, and the schools and colleges will then ensure the children are admitted after following extant Covid-19 protocols.

“The choice is yours, appeal is ours. When no other activities have seen any reduction — from markets to shopping arenas — and everything is going on as usual, for how many days would we keep children away from school,” asked the minister.

Those in rural areas can’t be reached through online education and are also taking to petty jobs. If this were to continue, it would be difficult to get them back to schools. There has also been a rise in child marriages ever since schools shut down.

In order to arrest these trends, the government has decided to reopen schools, said Kumar.

All the necessary arrangements are being made and the Education Department is taking all precautions in accordance with the SOPs issued by the Health Department.

Not more than 15 students will be in a regular classroom. Time will be devoted in the initial days for clarifying doubts of students, and only then, will regular classes commence, said the minister.

RT-PCR tests have been made mandatory for lecturers and teachers who are symptomatic.

Based on the experience of such a reopening, a decision will be taken over commencement of school for all other classes from 15 January 2021.