Kids out of School as Covid curbs return

With Health Minister Dr. K. Sudhakar saying that Bengaluru is likely to be the epicentre of the third wave in Karnataka, it comes as no surprise that the Karnataka Government has decided to immediately stop physical classes for all standards except 10th and 12th, with only online classes allowed for other grades over the next two weeks. Hameed Ashraf reports:

State Health Minister Dr. K. Sudhakar’s address to the media on Tuesday, has struck fear in the hearts of Bengalureans. With Covid-19 cases rising each day in the city, the Health Minister emphasised the need for ‘special measures’, saying the third wave has set in and that Bengaluru is likely to be its epicentre.

The minister’s revelation comes a day after the Chief Minister launched the vaccination drive for adolescents, with over 3.8 lakh children between the ages of 15 and 18 being inoculated across the state on the first day.

Although campuses will double as vaccination camps for students, schools are worried – the health of their students is one reason for concern, the other being the possibility of another lockdown. Another lockdown, fear schools, could prove disastrous for students, who have already suffered over the last year and a half. That will be the case, however, with no physical classes for most grades for the next two weeks. Private schools saw a decline in attendance even before the government order.

“The health of children should be our first priority in the midst of the Covid-19 scare and schools are doing their best to safeguard the students.” said D. Shashi Kumar, secretary of Karnataka Association of Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools (KAMS).

How effective are vaccines, ask parents

Parents on the other hand, are relieved to return to online classes, having had their own set of reservation sover letting children go back to school. Some feared that the vaccinations given to their kids will expire, although the central government has shot down such allegations as “false and misleading.”

Several schools in the city had sent messages to parents, telling them to have their wards vaccinated if they want them to write the board examinations.

“A vaccination certificate is a must for the board exam. Girls who were absent today must be vaccinated from whichever place you prefer. You must produce the certificate by this week itself. It is compulsory and one must take it seriously,” read the message from one school, which was sent to parents on WhatsApp.

Raising questions about the safety and efficacy of the vaccines being administered to children, one parent said, “We are not against vaccination but it must not be forced upon us. We parents want to act with caution, observe how the drive pans out over the next few days to see how teens react to the vaccine and then get our kids vaccinated.”

Schools must stay open

The National Coalition on the Education Emergency (NCEE) held a press meet on Tuesday requesting the state government not to plan closure of schools. Although their efforts went in vain, NCEE members say that children are the least vulnerable to the infection and have reported negligible fatalities. This, along with the vaccination, they reason, should be enough to keep schools open.

“This will spell disaster for children,” said NCEE members. “The evidence from Karnataka and elsewhere across the world is that young children and adolescents are least vulnerable to the coronavirus; they are more commonly asymptomatic or have mild nonspecific symptoms, and fatalities are negligible,” it added.

Suggesting that the schools can encourage in-person attendance but not make it mandatory, NCEE said, “When we compare the enormous harm arising from keeping schools closed with the much lesser harm from opening schools, it seems clear that schools must stay open. Across the world, schools have been mostly kept open. In some countries they remained open throughout the pandemic.”

Nagasimha G. Rao, Director, Child Rights Trust, is not in favour of the government’s decision to close schools, fearing that children will lose interest.

He said that most children are aware of Covid-19 protocol and are wearing face masks. “The Education Minister has encouraged school children to get vaccinated, saying that there is no harm in doing so. I want local leaders and politicians to visit schools, once they reopen, to encourage children to maintain social distance and wear face masks. The leaders have to tell the children that they will lose their right to education if they insist on their right to health,” he said.

Exposure inevitable, focus on immunity

Exposure to the virus is inevitable for e