Taking a major initiative towards resuming school education, an expert committee set up by the Karnataka government has recommended that school be opened for students of all classes. The expert committee made the recommendation to the government on the basis of as low as 0.08 percent Covid-19 positivity rate among school children in the state, the Indian Express reported.
Dr H Sudarshan Ballal who is a member of the expert committee advising the government told the Indian Express that the committee has advised opening schools for classes I to V in view of the current situation. Underscoring the fact that the pandemic is not going to end in a month or two, Ballal said that students be allowed to attend offline classes now in ventilated classrooms and provision of regular hand-washing at the premises.
On the possibility of students catching Coronavirus, Ballal said that a large share of the population had contracted Coronavirus during the second wave but the impact of the virus on children was limited and not of a serious concern. Ballal further said that students were able to recover faster than adults from the virus.
With the decreasing levels of infection in the state, Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association (PHANA) which had earlier opposed opening schools in the state had also made a rethink and suggested that schools can be opened for classes I to V. President of PHANA, Dr Prasanna H M told the Indian Express that low Covid positivity has been observed among school children along with high sero-positivity which indicates that the children have already been exposed to Coronavirus without any worrying impact.
Dr Prasanna further noted that since not many cases of Coronavirus have been reported among students of class VI to XII who have started attending school, it is time that the government opened schools even for junior classes.