Guidelines issued ahead of school reopening will be revised so that detailed arrangements can be made to continue in-person learning for students from classes 10 to 12 in the State, Minister for General Education V. Sivankutty has said. A meeting of General Education Department officials will be held on Monday morning to take a final decision on the guidelines.
He was addressing mediapersons on Saturday in the wake of a decision to shift to online classes for students from classes 1 to 9 for a period of two weeks from January 21. Nearly 35 lakh students study in classes 1 to 9. Physical classes will continue for students from classes 10 to 12.
Mr. Sivankutty said time had been allowed till January 21 before moving to remote learning for classes 1 to 9 so that students did not experience any anxiety and schools could make adequate arrangements.
The Minister clarified that the switchover to remote learning was applicable to all schools in the State, including unaided and CBSE institutions.
Reasons for decision
Explaining the reasons for the government decision, Mr. Sivankutty said though no significant infection caused by the Omicron variant had been reported among school students, keeping in mind that it was highly contagious, precautions needed to be taken to prevent outbreaks among students, rather than resort to school closures later. There were some schools with a strength of few thousands, and even if only restricted numbers reached school on a day, they could still become infected. With a rise in cases, parents were apprehensive, particularly about younger children, and the government could not take any risks with children’s health.
Telecast on KITE Victers
The Minister said the telecast of online classes through KITE Victers channel would be improved. Though these were being telecast after school hours, the schedule for classes 1 to 9 would be reorganised so that classes could be telecast during school hours.
Lessons for classes 8 to 12 through G Suite were underway. These too would be improved. Digital classes for SSLC for this academic year would be completed by the first week of February, and that for Plus Two by February-end.
Vaccination figures
Mr. Sivankutty said the government wanted to vaccinate children in 15-17 age group at the earliest. As per figures on Friday, nearly 50% of them had been vaccinated. Steps would be taken to administer them vaccines in schools with the support of the Health department.
A web portal would be launched by KITE next week for uploading vaccination figures. Teachers could log in to the portal and and enter the numbers for vaccinated and unvaccinated students every day, he said.
There would be no change in the dates announced for SSLC and Plus Two examinations, he said. Admission procedures for Plus One would be completed by January 20.
