BENGALURU: Rural private schools in the state are fearing the withdrawal of offline classes across Karnataka and urged Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai for alternatives to online classes — perhaps even Vidyagama.
Instead of ruining the future of children in the state, they recommended a slew of measures that could be adopted to ensure education continues.
One of the alternatives is to segment each class into three and bring each of the batches twice a week to school. In case, any student is symptomatic, that particular batch could be asked to home quarantine.
“In the past two years, schools have been targeted as the reason for spread of COVID. Don’t people who have gathered at liquor shops, Yatra, hotels, trains — that are revenue providers to the government — come in contact with their children,” asked Lokesh Talikatte, state unit president of Recognised Unaided Private Schools Association (RUPSA), Karnataka.
Schools asked for a more local approach to dealing with the new wave of the pandemic.
Other options they gave to the state to consider were to provide a few days holidays to schools where COVID spread is on the rise, and come up with micro containment zones.
Students residing in slums in Bengaluru are faced with malnutrition and should be given given midday meals in schools, while groups of 10-15 should be given homework and doubt clearing sessions, they said.
By such alternative measures, they believed children would be saved from being left out of education, requesting these be discussed by the cabinet on Thursday.
Meanwhile, there is a fear of shifting back to online classes among students from areas outside Bengaluru, although there have been no government directions regarding this.
At present, classes have been instructed online or through alternate mode for students in all Bengaluru schools and colleges barring those in class 10-12 and medical and paramedical from January 6 to 19 or till further orders.