BENGALURU: The state government will on Monday decide on reopening of schools for this academic year across the state. Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has called a meeting on Monday with Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar and officials from the departments of education, social welfare and health.
Suresh Kumar told The New Indian Express that they have already held a meeting with School Development and Monitoring Committee (SDMC) members and a report has been kept ready, which will be presented to the CM at the meeting.
“We will take the opinions of health department officials before arriving at any decision,” he said, adding that this would be applicable only for government and government-aided schools following state syllabus.
Education department officials said the opinions of parents, teachers and students from have already been taken and documented in the report. They said the meeting will also discuss protocols to be followed for reopening of schools, and they are likely to be similar to those for colleges.
Med colleges aiming for Dec 1 opening
Monda y’s meeting is being held in the background of degree and post-graduate colleges being reopened for offline classes from November 17, but evoking a poor response from students with the attendance remaining abysmal. Some colleges even reported teachers taking classes with just one student in attendance.
Schools and colleges were ordered shut when Covid started spreading across the state, but now the government is planning to reopen them in a staggered manner. While colleges have already reopened, a decision on schools is pending as a large section of parents and students are opposing it, as they fear students attending classes contracting the disease.
Medical, dental and Ayush colleges are aiming at starting offline classes from December 1, while the education department is thinking of reopening pre-university colleges from the second week of December. But the final decision is still pending. Besides parents and students, opposition parties, as well as a section of the ruling BJP MLAs too, continue to oppose reopening of schools.
If cases rise, colleges may be shut: Sudhakar
Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar on Sunday said that degree and engineering colleges may be shut again if Covid-19 cases rise. “The youth have immunity, but I would not say that students won’t contract the disease. We must protect students, as well as shape their academic future. Since it’s a big responsibility, we have decided to reopen schools and colleges in a phased manner,” he added. P2