Classes 6-8 can be reopened: TAC to Karnataka government

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) has told the state government that physical classes for grades 6 to 8 “may be considered from September 13”, a move that comes amid mixed response to offline classes for grades 9 to 12 in rural and urban areas.

Experts from TAC kept in mind Ganesh Chaturthi while making the recommendation, which was put forward in a meeting held on Thursday. The timing will help authorities take an informed decision after assessing the situation in the next few days as well as post-festival.

This assessment will consider the number of children testing positive for the coronavirus, their clinical presentation, severity and their management, response of parents, teachers, school management. The final announcement will be made by CM Basavaraj Bommai on Monday.

“The Chief Minister is holding a meeting on Monday (Aug 30) at 4 pm with the experts of TAC to discuss the recommendations,” a source said.

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According to authoritative, non-TAC sources, the recommendation to open these grades was made on the strength of two points: one was that the opening classes for 9 to 12 went largely by the book, with the SOPs being adhered to by students and teachers. The second factor was that even though Covid-19 infections were reported among students in these classes, none required hospitalisation, a source said.

A detailed study of child Covid-19 infections had determined that 40% of all cases reported in recent days in districts were those aged under 18. “Despite this, and the fact that some were symptomatic, none were hospitalised,” an official said.

TAC is set to issue recommendations for the Ganesha festival this coming week, a government source said, adding that the committee will next review the Covid-19 situation in the state and in children on September 8.

‘School bubble’

To ensure safe return of pupils to face-to-face learning, the Technical Advisory Committee has recommended introducing “school bubbles”. Conceptually, such bubbles are a simple yet rigid grouping of a small number of pupils, who tend to remain as a group during school hours. If any pupil tests positive within the bubble, only the affected bubble will self-isolate instead of the whole class.