Karnataka's Technical Advisory Committee suggests class 10 and 12 students return to schools in limited number and only twice a week

The Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) during a meeting on Thursday recommended resuming regular classes for Classes 10 and 12 in a staggered manner from January 1. However, the recommendations are yet to be placed before Chief Minister Yediyurappa for his approval before it is officially announced. According to sources privy to the meeting, the TAC also gave its nod to resume classes for Grades 9 and 11 from Jan 15, while Vidyagama is to be compulsory for Classes 6-8 from January 1.

The committee met with Minister for Primary and Secondary Education S Suresh Kumar and education officials and briefed them on its analysis on starting offline classes. The committee is said to have told them that the department could start preparing for Class 10 and 12 students to return to schools. But the number of students should be limited to a bare minimum and students should be called just twice a week to attend classes.

The TAC said that board exam students (Classes 10 and 12) who will also be attempting competitive examinations, will benefit from face-to-face classes. Other classes can be resumed after assessing the performance of the reopened classes. It also suggested that students, teachers and staff should be allowed to return to school only on producing a ‘negative’ test report.

The education department has been tasked with building confidence among parents and School Development and Monitoring Committees about the reopening. Health department officials apprised the TAC of the steps taken to address the pandemic.

Controversy in textbooks
After Mantralaya Raghavendra Swamiji raised an issue about a chapter in Class 6 social studies textbook containing content that hurt the sentiments of the Brahmin community, Kumar ordered the principal secretary to drop the content. He has asked the Karnataka Text Book Society to form an expert committee and analyse social science and language books from Class 1-10 for controversial content and submit a report in 15 days.