Bengaluru, Oct 7: Even though the Centre has shown green signals to reopen schools and colleges post-October 15 in keeping with the Unlock 5.0 guidelines, the state government of Karnataka mulling to further postpone the reopening process in the wake of alarming spurt in Covid cases.
According to sources, the Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education department has decided to wait for another one month before taking any decision. A top official of the department said, “The government has almost decided not to open schools and PU colleges at least for another one month. We cannot afford to take chances with children’s lives by reopening schools at this juncture.”
Similarly, Health Minister B Sriramulu, who chaired a meeting to discuss the opening of schools on Tuesday, opined that there are several risks involved in the process. Following the education department’s request, the Health department held a preliminary consultative meeting with experts and health officials.
“We (Health Department) will submit a report to the education department listing out recommendations on reopening schools after more talks with paediatricians, academicians and other stakeholders,” Sriramulu said.
Health officials who were privy to the meeting said that many people who were consulted by the minister expressed displeasure over the reopening of schools keeping in mind the safety of children when the infection is at its peak.
“Today, out of the 100 samples, 12 to 15 tested positive for Covid-19. This must come down at least to five before we can think of reopening schools,” a paediatrician who took part in the meeting told the minister.
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