Karnataka: Colleges relieved as most students have taken jabs

Higher education institutions, including degree colleges, will reopen in the state on Monday and students who have taken at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine can attend on-campus classes if they are scheduled.
Officials in Mysuru said more than 80 per cent of the students there had been vaccinated, while Mangalore University (MU) said that 70 per cent of pupils and teachers across colleges affiliated with it had taken the jab.
In Mysuru, authorities organised a special drive to inoculate students. On the first day, over 1,000 students, including nearly 600 from government colleges, received shots. An official said the target was to jab about 3,000 students.
So far, over 80,000 candidates have been vaccinated.
The University of Mysore (UoM) and its affiliated colleges are making preparations to resume offline classes for degree and PG courses. Attendance is not mandatory. Manasagangotri, the PG campus of the university, was sanitised on Saturday.
On-campus learning was suspended in April following the second wave of Covid-19. Since then, only online classes have taken place. UoM registrar R Shivappa said that physical classes could begin now as most of the students and staff members had been vaccinated. “We conducted special camps for our students, teachers and other staffers,” he explained.
Mangalore University, which has colleges in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Kodagu, will reopen on Monday, but will not conduct classes on campuses.
“Classes on campus will commence only after the completion of degree and postgraduate exams. Undergraduate exams will be held from August 2 to 14, while PG exams will commence on August 5. We opened hostels on Saturday,” said MU vice-chancellor PS Yadapadithaya.
Around 70 per cent of students and staffers across colleges had received the first dose of the vaccine, Yadapadithaya added.