The three-day holiday declared by the State Government in light of the ongoing row over students sporting hijabs and saffron shawls in many parts of Karnataka is going to have an impact on the already delayed academic calendar, say lecturers.
On Tuesday, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced the three-day holiday for high schools and colleges.
B.G. Bhaskar, president of Federation of University and College Teachers’ Associations in Karnataka, told The Hindu that the academic calendar started late and almost an entire semester has been lost. “We had to revert to online classes from January 8 to 31, following the outbreak of the third wave. Just a week after the offline classes resumed, this has happened,” he said.
In many colleges, examinations were to begin from February 21. However, it was postponed to March 7. “We need to complete the syllabus, conduct internal assessment and practical examinations by then,” he pointed out.
In a circular, the Department of Higher Education later clarified that while all colleges, universities, technical colleges will remain closed, the examinations scheduled during the next few days would be held as planned.
A lecturer of an autonomous college in the city, however, maintained that syllabus had been completed last week. “We had online classes until last week. The semester examinations have been scheduled from February 28. However, students will have to come to colleges from February 21 for revision classes and practical examinations,” he said.
Govt. blamed
Sithara H.M., state secretariat member, All India Democratic Students’ Organisation, blamed the Government for failing to nip the row in the bud. “Holiday declaration is just temporary relief. The government should take action to ensure that this issue doesn’t grow further,” she said and added that the attention of citizens should not be diverted from the many problems of the education sector, such as fee hike and National Education Policy. She called upon students to stay away from “divisive forces”.
Schools
With no clarity on whether all schools would also remain closed, parents were making calls to the schools. It was later that the Department of Primary ans Secondary Education issued a circular clarifying that only classes 9 and 10 would remain closed.
However, many private schools in the city have decided to offer online classes over the next three days. D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary, Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS), said the holiday had been declared under unavoidable circumstances.
“We have already communicated to the schools affiliated with KAMS to facilitate online classes over the next three days, as the academic calendar has already suffered,” he said.
