BENGALURU: While schools are set to open for grades 6-8 on alternate days from September 6, the department has stated that attendance is not mandatory for physical classes, and children can attend online or alternative classes.
Additional and supportive learning will be provided through telecast programmes, said a circular from the department on Tuesday. Saturdays will be declared a holiday for students, and the day will be set aside for complete sanitisation of the premises. Students will be allowed to attend classes on producing a consent letter from parents, and an undertaking that the student is not suffering from any Covid symptoms. They are to carry their own food and water from home. However, schools have been told to provide hot drinking water to those who need it.
The department has put out an advisory time-table for schools. Students will attend classes in batches of 20, and will get Saturday off. Schools time-tables are to be structured under the guidance of local education officers and in tandem with SOPs, based on classroom availability, number of students and teachers.
The department has also sought regular updation of the assessment of students on the SATS portal, in case results have to be declared on an emergency basis. Neelima M, Principal, Narayana e-Techno School, welcoming the announcement that offline classes are not mandatory, believed that hybrid classes are the best option for the foreseeable future.
“Necessary equipment should be installed to allow simultaneous running of online and offline sessions,” she said. Schools are even looking forward to elementary school students being allowed on campus.