On the first day of school reopening in Karnataka, barely 20 per cent of students attended classes. Schools across Karnataka reopened on Monday for classes 9 and 10 after a gap of nearly 18 months due to Covid19.

The overall average attendance in Bengaluru city was about 21 per cent. Some districts like Chitradurga and Chikkodi reported a fairly high attendance of about 50 per cent, but others like Vijayapura, Kalburgi, Bidar saw a turnout of barely 1 to 5 per cent. Districts such as Chikmagalur, Hassan, and Kodagu where the positivity rate is higher than 2 per cent, did not open schools.

In Bengaluru, most schools have shifted to a hybrid way of teaching — both offline and online classes at the same time. Besides, it is mandatory for students to bring consent forms from their parents to start attending classes in person. Many opted to stay the online way for now.

“We now have two teachers in the class for each subject – one will teach that lesson for the day, speaking to the classroom, while the other faces the screen from the opposite side and addresses concerns that students who have logged into the online class are raising. The camera is focussed on the board, so both will get the same, but there are many advantages to coming here in person of course,” says Devika Kiran, principal at the Sindhi High School which had made elaborate arrangements to welcome students back.

The school has set up an isolation facility for children taking ill, as well as expanded seating such that only one student is on each bench. By next week, Kiran hopes more students will opt for the regular classes.

Despite the government bringing in safety protocols and asking all its ministers to visit schools in their districts to reassure students’ safety, the response was low. Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai himself visited two schools in Bengaluru on the first day of reopening.

The CM had announced after his visit to schools that he would meet with experts by the end of the month before taking a decision on reopening schools for other classes that is from class 1 to class 8.

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