Growing Covid Curve In Karnataka May Cause Delay In School Reopening

Officials believe that the lack of a council of ministers and the shifting Covid-19 situation in the state may cause delays in the reopening of schools and pre-university colleges in Karnataka.

According to a top official from the Department of Public Instruction, the government is expected to postpone reopening by another fortnight.

The official also mentioned that during the last week of July, they had noticed a massive increase and rise in the number of new and fresh covid instances. This, combined with the absence of ministers in charge of primary and secondary education, health, and other related agencies, would almost probably force us to postpone the decision until the third week of August.

The Director of Public Instruction handed over a report to the administration, during the day, July 26, when BS Yeddyurappa announced his resignation. The report further suggested that schools will resume on August 1, with classes for older children of Class VI and above starting in the first or second week of August and classes for younger pupils starting a week later.

S Suresh Kumar, the then-Minister of Primary and Secondary Education, had stated that a decision to reopen schools would be made in the last week of July, while the council of ministers was dissolved a few days earlier

The minister's announcement was based on a report by a team of experts, which included health department officials, paediatricians, educationalists, members of private school managements, and parents' associations, and suggested that offline lessons begin in the first week of August.

Several ideas and ideologies are thereafter the reopenings of schools, similarly, Reopening schools in large cities, as per Ganesh Poojary, organizing secretary of the Karnataka State Parents Coordination Committee seems hazardous. He believed that the government should not decide on any note for the entire state at once, but rather make strategic judgments by permitting schools to operate in rural areas where Covid caseloads are very low. He also stated that officials at the village and panchayat levels must establish a safe and conducive environment in order to build trust among students and parents to return to school.

According to D Shashikumar, general secretary of the Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka, the government needs to reopen schools as soon as possible and throughout July and August, the state's decision to reopen schools was subjected to unwarranted delays.

Meanwhile, due to the current increase and sudden rise in the daily covid cases, most Bengaluru parents are once again opposed for sending their children back to school. Since July 29, Bengaluru has had around 400 cases every day.