The Karnataka government has decided not to reopen the schools and PU colleges till January 2021.
Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who chaired a meeting of senior officials from the Education department, on Monday, announced that the schools and the PU colleges in the state would remain closed till January 2021 as several parts of the country are reporting a second wave of the COVID-19.
"The COVID-19 technical advisory committee has advised the government against reopening of the schools in December owing to the second wave of Covid-19 and the possibility of the winter months causing havoc. The children's safety and welfare is our top priority," said Yediyurappa.
Primary and Secondary Education minister S. Suresh Kumar, who addressed a press meet, said, "We have no plans to reopen the schools or PU colleges this year. We consulted the Covid technical committee and the health minister, who has advised us against resuming the offline classes even for the SSLC and PU students or in the districts with low prevalence of COVID-19 immediately. However, we will hold an expert committee meeting again in the third week of December to review the situation."
Suresh Kumar expressed confidence that the classes for the SSLC and PUC students facing the board exams might resume in January. This academic year, around 9.59 lakh students are studying in SSLC and Class 10 (CBSE and ICSE) in the state, while 5.70 lakh students are studying II PUC under the PU board.
The minister acknowledged that the pandemic was unexpected and had created an unusual challenge to the education system too.
"The online education was unheard of. But today, the private schools have adopted it. We are trying to reach out to our government school students especially in the rural areas through Makkalavani and Samveda (on Doordarshan Chandana). Many teachers have been trying innovative teaching through WhatsApp groups, ever since Vidyagama was stalled," said the minister, who also lamented that the closure of schools indefinitely due to the pandemic had led to an increase in child marriages and child labour in the state.
