The Karnataka government is likely to resume offline classes for students in primary schools (Class I to V) after the ongoing Dasara vacation. The schools were shut nearly 20 months ago due to the coronavirus pandemic. Karnataka Education Minister B C Nagesh said the government will also resume providing cooked midday meals at schools from the same day. "The department is ready and our officials have taken all measures to restart classes at primary schools and to distribute midday meals. We are hopeful of resuming these right from the day after Dasara," he said in Bengaluru. "However, we are still in discussion with the Covid-19 technical advisory committee to finalise various guidelines to be followed once schools reopen in a full-fledged manner," Nagesh said. However, a day later, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said the final decision on reopening primary schools would be taken only after a meeting with the expert committee. "A meeting would be held with the Covid-19 expert committee soon after Dasara to discuss the situation. Decisions on reopening primary schools and on relaxing the restrictions in border districts would be taken then," he said in Mangaluru on Wednesday. Earlier last month, an expert committee constituted by the government had suggested that the state government may reopen schools for all classes in the state. The Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA), which earlier warned the government against reopening of schools, had also suggested that Classes I to V could also be opened citing no significant rise of Covid-19 among school children. Meanwhile, offline classes were permitted to be held in batches for students of classes 9 to 12 from August 23 and for students of classes 6 to 8 from September 6.
