Bengaluru, Dec. 6: Amid rise Covid cases in residential schools, hostels and colleges, Karnataka education minister, B. C. Nagesh on Monday said that the state government is ready to go ‘on-line mode’ once again by shutting down physical classes in all schools if the Coivd cases increase further.
Mr Nagesh told reporters that despite the state government’s best efforts to contain the spread of the Covid contagion, it has raised its ugly heads in residential schools but a similar case load has not appeared in other schools, where kids are coming from their houses.
“Keeping in view of Omicron, a new variant of Covid virus’s emergence, we (Health and education department) are monitoring the situation on an hourly basis. Let parents need not worry about the spread of the virus. As we are monitoring the situation, if the situation warrants we will take every possible step including closing down schools till the Covid comes under control,” he said.
He added that the state’s utmost priority is to protect children. “If situation worsens, we will have no option but to opt for on-line mode of education by shutting down physical classes,” he said.
The minister said that the schools were closed for almost a year, as a result of this, the student’s study cycle had disturbed and many experts had opined that the schools must be resumed without any delay. “Only after experts’ advice, we opted to resume schools. First, we will strengthen Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) in all residential schools. Already, I instructed Block level education officers to relook into SOPs followed by the residential schools,” he said.
The minister said that the department is already considering alternative modes of classes for kids in such emergency scenarios. “As of now there is no such fear and even parents need not panic. In fact, during examinations, we adopt stringent Covid protocols as it is known that we allow only a single student per desk,” he said.
Mr Nagesh also said that he would personally visit a few of the schools and has sought a report already once model code of conduct is revoked after ongoing elections to Legislative Council seats as well as to Urban Local body elections.
In the meantime, the number of infected kids has shot up to 107 at the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya cluster in Koppa taluk of Chikkamagalur. Out of the 38 confirmed Covid positive cases, there are 35 students and three staffers of the school.
