Karnataka govt schools to reopen for classes 10, 12 from January 1

Karnataka govt schools to reopen for classes 10, 12 from January 1

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, Dec 28, 2020:     Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar on Monday announced that regular classes will resume for government school students of classes 10 and 12 from January 1. Government schools in the state will reopen after a gap of nine months after closing down for the nationwide lockdown imposed in March.

 

Since then, government school students have had community learning or ’Vidyagama’ classes but they were stopped in October after reports of COVID-19 cases.Even though the Karnataka government had earlier announced the reopening of schools on January 1, the decision was reconsidered in a cabinet meeting on Monday. Following the meeting, Suresh Kumar announced that classes will resume from January 1 for students in classes 10 and 12.

Suresh Kumar had on December 19 announced opening of schools and pre-university colleges for regular classes for Class 10 and second pre-university from January 1. First year pre- university classes will start from January 15.
The decisions were placed on hold after reports emerged that 26 people who returned from the United Kingdom to Karnataka in the past month tested positive for the coronavirus. However, it has not been confirmed whether those who tested positive for the novel coronavirus have contracted the UK variant, which is believed to be more infectious. Only genome sequencing can confirm this.

Suresh Kumar said his department had consulted the Health Minister and the technical advisory committee before re-confirming the decision to open up government schools. The state government has already released a set of guidelines for the reopening of government schools. The guidelines specified that classes will be staggered, every teacher will be tested for COVID-19 and that in case of students or teachers showing symptoms, they will be immediately isolated.

Degree and engineering colleges in the state were reopened on November 17, while medical and paramedical colleges reopened on December 1.

Earlier, concerns were raised about the state government’s Vidyagama scheme with reports of places like temples disallowing Dalits, menstruating girls from studying. This led to activists urging the government to restart schools inside the school premises itself.

Courtesy:The News Minute