Karnataka schools likely to reopen on June 1

The Karnataka government is mulling reopening of schools from June 1 if the national lockdown is not extended beyond May 17 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The education department is working on the guidelines, in consultation with the health department, that need to be followed once the schools reopen.

Umashankar S, principal secretary, primary and secondary education, Government of Karnataka says they are monitoring the developments related to COVID-19. “If the union government does not extend the lockdown, we will reopen schools for classes 1 to 10 from June 1. That’s the plan now. But if the lockdown is extended, we will have to postpone it,” he says.

Earlier, the SSLC examinations that were supposed to be conducted from March 27 were postponed due to the outbreak of novel coronavirus. The examinations are likely to be held in July and the high schools may resume post the conduct of the examinations.

However, S Suresh Kumar, primary & secondary education minister said they are not yet sure when they can reopen the schools. “We are monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic. We may reopen in a month’s time or longer, depending on the situation. We will decide on the syllabus for the new academic year depending on when we get to reopen. If we reopen later, then we may reduce the syllabus,” he says.