BENGALURU: Several members of the civil society, including educationists and retired high court judge HN Nagmohan Das, have written to chief minister BS Yediyurappa, urging him to restart full on-campus classes for grades 1 to 10 from Monday.
They note that the government has already reopened half-day classes for students in classes 10 and 12 and Vidyagama sessions for some other grades and that there has been no spike in the number of Covid-19 cases. “This proves that there are no adverse effects of reopening schools,” the group has said.
SG Siddaramaiah, a retired professor and principal who is one of the signatories, said that prolonged closure of schools had hit kids in rural areas the most. “Online classes are only for the elite urban class. Children in rural areas have fallen victim to social evils like child marriage, labour and trafficking,” he added. The members have referred to a recent Supreme Court judgement, which asked all states to implement the food security act and open anganwadi centres and restart midday meals.
Meanwhile, the last date for admissions in all classes for this academic year has been extended from February 6 to February 20. Minister S Suresh Kumar wrote to officials in this regard.