A private school in Bengaluru has been slapped with a show-cause notice for taking students on a school trip amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

The private school located in Jalahalli has taken a group of 130 students on a trip to Hyderabad, a move considered risky by a large group of parents from the school as Karnataka has reported its third case of Omicron virus on Monday.

A notice was issued to the school after parents, who were apprehensive about sending their children on the five-day trip complained.

The trip has been arranged at a cost of Rs 10,000 per student and has an itinerary involving visits to popular tourist destinations such as the Golconda Fort and Birla Mandir.

“We have issued a show-cause notice to authorities and also directed them to return to Bengaluru with the students immediately,” the Bengaluru North Deputy Director of Public Instruction was quoted as saying.

School authorities, however, argued that the trip was organized only after seeking parental consent. They also assured that all Covid-19 safety protocols have been followed while organizing the trip including safety measures at the place of stay and en route Hyderabad.

Meanwhile, R Vishal, commissioner of the Department of Public Instruction told EducationWorld that there was no explicit ban in the Covid protocols that the state government had issued. “There is no right or wrong here. One must understand that it could be technically correct but logically wrong. We did not foresee such a thing when the SOP was issued. It is to be assumed that schools must not undertake any high-risk activities unless necessary. If we impose a blanket ban, students travelling to attend inter-state sporting events, etc will be affected.”

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