After a lot of speculation, the Government of Karnataka has finally announced that schools can now have 100 per cent capacity for Class 6 to 10 students as well as PU 1 and 2. According to the guidelines issued by the School Education department, schools can begin functioning with 100 per cent capacity from October 4. However, there is no compulsion on students to attend and schools must not force children to attend these offline classes mandatorily.
B C Nagesh, Primary and Secondary Education Minister visited a few schools in Hassan on October 1. He spoke with students personally and asked if they would like coming back to schools. He said, "A lot of children have been coming back to schools since the reopening of the school phase-wise in August. Even after we open at 100 per cent capacity and function through the day, the guidelines will remain the same. Children have to bring their own water bottles and food from home. Schools will function only for five days in a week. The weekends are meant for sanitisation of the school premises."
With this decision by the government, a lot of parents and schools are asking people to provide mid day meals for kids. As the majority of children come from economically challenged backgrounds with parents working as labourers, providing mid day meals will help them gain an interest in academics as well as remain healthy. The Government of Karnataka stopped giving mid day meals from March 2020 after the first wave of COVID-19, when schools were forced to shut down. This year, the government has plans to provide eggs in mid day meals across seven districts in North-Karnataka that can benefit over 14 lakh kids.
Currently, around 11.80 crore children are covered under the mid-day meal scheme, or the National Scheme for PM-POSHAN in 11.20 lakh schools in Karnataka. The newly appointed Education Minister, BC Nagesh has stated that a decision regarding the mid-day meals will be taken after Dussehra holidays based on the suggestions by the Technical Advisory Committee. Similarly, decisions on offline classes for class 1 to 5 students will be taken after the festival depending on the number of COVID-19 cases across the state.
