ATHANI / KALABURAGI: As many as 25 children and six teachers recently tested positive in Timmapur and surrounding villages of Ramdurg taluk, creating panic among villagers who have blamed the government’s Vidyagama programme for the children contracting the disease. People have now started stopping primary school teachers from entering their villages. The state government launched Vidyagama to ensure that classes are not disrupted for children, who lacked access to online classes. The programme involves primary school teachers visiting villagers and teaching small groups of students in open spaces with physical distancing maintained.
Villagers suspect that over 100 children may have contracted the virus during the programme and have barred the entry of teachers into villages. Elsewhere in the district, 18 government primary school teachers tested positive in Chikkodi education district, and three teachers succumbed to the disease.
Separately, four students studying at a Vatara Shale (community school) at Mashal village of Afzalpur taluk in Kalaburagi district tested positive for Covid on Thursday. The Department of Public Instruction has closed it for a fortnight from Friday.
Kalaburagi Deputy Director of Public Instruction S P Badagundi said that the school headmaster tested positive a fortnight ago and RT-PCR tests were conducted on 250 students. Four of them tested positive on Thursday and results of 24 other students are awaited.In-charge headmaster of the school Lakshman said the government has not provided masks or sanitiser to the school. Students in 18 Vatara Shales near Mashal have reportedly stopped sending their wards to school.