School timings have been altered to allow teachers to complete the survey.
Credit: DH Photo
Bengaluru: The ongoing Social & Educational Survey, scheduled to end on Tuesday (October 7) may be extended up to October 24 in Bengaluru, going by a memo issued by the department of school education & literacy.
Schools will re-open on October 8 after the Dasara holidays. However, school timings have been altered to allow teachers to complete the survey.
From October 8 to 24, government and aided schools in the Greater Bengaluru area will have classes from 8 am to 1 pm so that teachers can carryout the survey thereafter, the department has said.
In the rest of the state, all government and aided schools will have classes from 8 am to 1 pm from October 8 to 12.
The memo was issued after the the backward classes department said more time was needed to complete the survey.
The Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes is expected to make a formal announcement on the survey's extension in a day or two.
By Monday, 1.15 crore households were covered across Karnataka. In Bengaluru, 1.36 lakh households were surveyed. In total, 1.17 crore out of the targeted 1.43 crore have been surveyed.
The revised timings have irked teachers and parents. "If the child has to reach school at 8 am, we'll have to leave home an hour early. Transportation will be a problem for students at rural areas," one teacher said.
"There are single-teacher schools. We need to serve them mid-day meals as well. After doing all the work at school, how can we take part in the survey? The government should consider that we're humans, too," another teacher said.
Earlier in the day, Home Minister G Parameshwara opined that extending the survey would ensure completion. He said some districts had achieved 80 per cent progress while it is 50 per centin other places.
"On an average, 80 per cent of the survey work has been done and extending it by 4-5 days will help to achieve 100 per cent progress," he said.