Missed online classes? Get ready for offline lessons

Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan on Wednesday assured students that offline classes will be conducted for them if they miss out on online classes due to various reasons.

Ashwath Narayan, also the Higher Education minister, said that the government was forced to adopt online teaching due to the Covid-19
lockdown.

“Until we are permitted to restart classes once the lockdown norms are relaxed, we can perform academic activity only online and there is no alternative in the present situation,” Ashwath Narayan said when he was live on a Facebook interaction hosted by the DH.

Once the lockdown is relaxed completely, the government can think of conducting regular classes. “Whoever was not able to learn online will be provided opportunity to attend the classes,” he said.

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“Online education is not something we are trying to impose. The situation has warranted us to provide this solution. We need to ensure whatever is possible in the given situation,” Ashwath Narayan said, responding to questions on the challenges faced by the rural students.

On demands to cancel exams and promote students, Ashwath Narayan said that all parameters of academic activity will be followed.

“It is not in the interest of students to pass out without appearing for exams. There is also an issue with backlogs,” he said, adding that Karnataka need not follow what other states had done when it came to promoting students.

On confusion caused by varying remarks made by ministers over quarantine facility for people returning from Maharashtra, he said that the 7-day institutional quarantine was mandatory for everyone returning from the state.

On increase in cases as the lockdown was being lifted, he said that the state had made enough arrangements to prepare for the spike in cases. “The virus is not going to go anywhere for a period,” he said, noting that it was too early to comment on herd immunity.

“It will kick in only if more than 50-60% or more of a population, depending on the geography, is infected. The disease has not been that prevalent in the state,” he said.