Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Feb 16: Education minister S Suresh Kumar on Tuesday February 16 announced that sixth, seventh, and eighth standards will reopen in full strength from February 22 onweard. He was addressing a press conference after holding a meeting with the technical advisory committee today.

The minister however, added that in Bengaluru, only the eighth standard will be opened from February 22.

On the issue of reopening first to fifth standards, the minister said that another round of meetings will be held on February 24 and 25 and a decision about starting classes upto fifth standard or continuing with Vidyagama will be decided.

Suresh Kumar said that sixth and seventh standards will not be operated in Bengaluru city and areas bordering Kerala state as the increasing COVID cases in that state can make way for a second wave of the pandemic. He clarified that in these areas, only the eighth standard will be allowed to be operated.

The COVID Technical Advisory Committee has given a green signal for the schools to start physical classes.

Even though the private schools are enthusiastic to open classes right from first standard at the earliest, the parents are divided in their opinions.

The meeting decided to allow 'Vidyagama' to be introduced for classes 1 to 5 from February 22 and to reopen schools in full strength soon subject to the outcome of the Vidyagama experiment. A clear stand will be taken in the days to come.

The committee observed that ninth to second PU classes are being held without any problem and therefore took the view that classes upto the eighth standard can be resumed.

The meeting decided to reopen offline classes on full scale for sixth to eighth standards from February 22 onwards. With this, schools will be abuzz with activities after nearly a year. However, the minister is slated to come out with a decision on the issue on Tuesday.