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Karnataka schools resume classes with 100% capacity as new Covid relaxations kick in
According to the fresh guidelines issued by the Basavaraj Bommai-led government, all schools with classes from 6 to 12 can operate with full capacity as Covid-19 positivity rates continue to remain on the lower side
Bengaluru Schools across Karnataka resumed physical classes with 100% capacity as the state government’s new relaxations came into effect on Friday.
According to the fresh guidelines issued by the Basavaraj Bommai-led government, all schools with classes from 6 to 12 can operate with full capacity as Covid-19 positivity rates continue to remain on the lower side.
BC Nagesh, Karnataka’s minister for primary and secondary education on Friday said that the government has given instructions to schools to hold classes from morning till evening.
“We have also said that there students should not be compelled to attend since there is no lunch served,” Nagesh said on Friday.
Students have started returning to schools since their phase-wise reopening since the last week of August.
The Karnataka government has also allowed cinema halls, schools and other categories of institutions to resume 100% operations from Friday in places where the positivity rate is below 1%. Pubs will also resume operations with 100% capacity from October 3.
There was an average of over 63% attendance in classes above class 9 as against just over 50% in classes from 6 to 8, according to government data on Friday.
Karnataka recorded 589 new Covid infections in a 24-hour period, taking the active case load to 12,469, according to the daily bulletin of the state health department on Friday.
The average positivity rate of Karnataka stood at 0.46%. However, 13 more people succumbed to the virus, taking the death toll to 37,807 with a case fatality rate of 2.20%.
There are at least three schools in Bengaluru, Mandya and Kolar thay have been closed down as several covid positive cases were detected in them over the last week.
Meanwhile, parents associations in Bengaluru will hold a protest on Saturday against private schools demanding full fees from students despite the government orders.
The state government said that it will take a call on reopening classes for students for classes 1 to 5 post the Dasara holidays later this month.
“After Dasara we will discuss the next course of action,” Nagesh had said.
He added that there are several regions across Karnataka where positivity rate is zero and there should be no problems for students to return to schools.
