School reopening: Bengaluru parents start petition on Twitter demanding offline classes for kids

NEW DELHI: Soon after the Karnataka government announced that a decision regarding reopening of schools in Karnataka for Classes 1 to 5 will be taken after the festival season, the Bengaluru public started campaigning on Twitter demanding offline classes. The people of Bengaluru have started a petition on school reopening asking the government to allow kids to go to school.

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A Twitter user shared the petition and said: “Let Bengaluru kids go to school.”

“Let Bengaluru kids go to school” https://t.co/ew38b2pP3w

— Rohin Dharmakumar (@r0h1n) October 5, 2021

According to the petition, the pre-schools in Bengaluru have remained shut for 571 days. The closures of schools can lead to learning loss as either the students are too young to be put to online classes or they don’t have access to the internet or online devices.

Schools across the country and worldwide have reopened for almost all classes, and thus Karnataka government should reopen schools for these kids, the petition said.

Karnataka health minister K Sudhakar informed on Sunday about Karnataka government’s decision after meeting union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya, a PTI report said.

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"We will take a decision shortly after the festival season. Let the Dussehra vacation get over," he said. As per the PTI report, Sudhakar said that the final call will be taken after consultation and the cabinet's decision.

Asked about a school in Bengaluru being shut after children tested COVID-19 positive, he said the government is aware of it. But that one incident cannot determine whether to reopen schools for classes 1-5, Sudhakar said, as per the PTI report.

The minister further said: "We were to reopen schools for classes 1-5 because medically speaking immunity in children up to 12 years is highest. Since children are small and keeping parents' concern in mind, the government focused on reopening educational institutions in a phased manner, he said.

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First higher education institutions were reopened, then pre-university and later classes 9-12 and classes 6-8 in Karnataka, Sudhakar said, as per the PTI report.

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