The Karnataka government on Friday made a slew of announcements on the current pandemic situation, including the graded opening of schools for secondary and senior secondary students. Karnataka Chief Minister announced that physical classes for the students of Classes 9, 10, 11 and 12 will begin from August 23. The classes will be held every alternate day, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announced.
The Karnataka government has also announced that the night curfew currently in place across the state will come into effect an hour earlier and that a weekend curfew will be imposed in the districts bordering Kerala and Maharashtra, as the neighbouring states continue to report a high number of COVID-19 cases. The new rules announced by the Chief Minister will come into effect from Friday, August 6. This means that now the night curfew in the state will be from 9 pm to 5 am, as opposed to the earlier timings of 10 pm to 5 am. The Director General of Police in Karnataka has been instructed to enforce the night curfew in all districts.
The weekend curfew will be imposed in the following districts – Mysuru, Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada and Chamarajanagar (which border Kerala) and in Belagavi, Vijayapura, Kalaburagi and Bidar (which border Maharashtra).
“We have decided that night curfew will be preponed by one hour in the state and there will be weekend curfew in the districts bordering Kerala and Maharashtra. We have decided that there will be a graded reopening of schools; first Classes 9, 10, 11 and 12 will reopen from August 23. We will review the situation at the end of August,” the Karnataka Chief Minister said, speaking to media on Friday.
CM Bommai reiterated that a negative RT-PCR report not older than 72 hours is mandatory for those entering Karnataka from Kerala and Maharashtra, be it any mode of transport. “RT-PCR is mandatory, and it will be mandatory,” he said, when asked about the protests and delays at the state’s borders over the new rule
The Karnataka government made the announcement after holding a high-level meeting on the reopening of schools as the second wave of the pandemic wanes in many parts of the country. Speaking to the media after the meeting, CM Bommai said that a notification will be given about the guidelines to be followed when the classes start.
The decision to open schools for primary students and students of Class 8 will be taken at the end of August, the Chief Minister’s office said. The Karnataka Chief Minister said he will be holding further discussions with government officials as well as experts on the reopening of schools.