BAGALKOT; 04 Jan: Even though the regular classes for class 10th started in the district, the authorities of the Department of Public Instructions (DPI) have given relaxation from attending classes to those students have access to smart phones and other electronic devices.
After a gap of nearly nine months the schools for only 10 and 12 classes have been reopened from January 1, which had remained shut due to the Covid pandemic in the state. On the first two-days of the reopening of schools less than 45 percent students turned-up in the district.
According to officials of DPI, “A total of 34,950 students have been registered for the SSLC in state-run and private schools. Among them less than 45 percent, that is, 15,000 students attended the first-two days of the regular classes for the academic year 2020-21.”
Meanwhile, the DPI has given relaxation for those students that have access to smart phones, tablets, internet and other electronic devices from attending regular classes for a couple of weeks or until the parents along with their consent letter send their children for school.
As per the information provided by the officials of DPI, “Out of the total registered students for SSLC only 18,812 students have access to either smart phone or tablets, where 17,145 of them have internet connectivity. Among the total students 24,063 have Television and 1,979 have radio. And 2,375 students have access to none of the above-mentioned devices.”
Srishail Biradar, Deputy Director of DPI said that they are not forcing any students to attend classes but have taken all the precautions in the schools including in private institutions. As per the guidelines, the students have to bring the consent letter of their parents to attend regular classes. Those students are not willing to attend classes – we are continuing the online classes.
He said that over 80% of the students that don’t have access to any of the electronic devices have attended the classes so far.
“We will make all the efforts to convince parents to send their children to schools and conduct classes with full strength after a couple of weeks. Since the start of the classes no incident or report of students or teachers getting infected with the virus has been reported in the district”, DDPI Biradar said.
Prior to the start of the school over 5,000 teachers working in high school of government and private schools have gone under Covid test, where none of them have tested positive. Even in many private schools the administrations have insisted the students to go for Covid test. However, there was no mandatory for the students to bring the Covid test certificate while entering school.
