Bengaluru: Schools reopen today after over 18 months hiatus

Bengaluru: Schools and pre-university colleges across Karnataka are gearing up to welcome students back from Monday after a gap of nearly 18 months.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday said the government has taken "extreme care" to ensure that classroom learning is carried out safely and preparations have been made accordingly to instil confidence among students and parents. The government has given special instructions and standard operating procedures (SOPs) have been issued to government, aided and private schools permitting them to resume classes. As decided earlier, classes will resume only in districts where the Covid positivity rate is below 2 per cent.

According to the sources from the Primary and Secondary Education department, classes will resume in all districts except Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Chikmagalur and Hassan where Covid-19 test positivity rate (TPR) is more than 2%.

The officials claim that the decision to resume offline classes are based on the recommendations by the Covid-19 technical advisory committee.

Education and Health departments have also urged parents who have not been vaccinated yet to register for the same. District administrations have been ensuring that all teaching and non-teaching staff have received at least their first Covid vaccine shot before classes reopen.

It is also reported that, in some districts like Mandya, school teachers have been instructed to furnish a negative RT-PCR report on Monday even if they have taken both shots of the vaccine.

The decision came recently by CM Bommai after considering the report for the experts about the issue of opening schools. According to the reports, experts have suggested that after a devastating second wave in April-May, schools should be reopened in a phased manner with teachers and staff fully vaccinated.