Bengaluru, June 10, 2020: The Karnataka government on June 10 banned online education for children up to the fifth grade.
The decision was taken by the Karnataka state Department of Primary and Secondary Education based on a report that recommended online classes only for children in higher grades.
Several parents had complained that some private schools conducted online classes even for kindergarten kids.
“We have taken two major decisions today. The online classes for LKG, UKG and primary classes should be stopped immediately,” secondary education minister S Suresh Kumar told reporters.
Even collecting fees in the name of online classes should be stopped, said the minister. “We have already issued a circular about it insisting that schools not collect fees in the name of online classes and also requesting schools not to increase fees for the 2020-21 academic year considering financial constraints of several people due to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said the minister.
The department, however, also discussed how to engage children during this period as there was no clarity over the reopening of schools for the 2020-2021 academic year.
“We have constituted a committee to prepare guidelines on how to engage students and increase their knowledge. The committee is headed by Prof. MK Sridhar,” he said.
Before taking this decision, the department had three rounds of discussions with various experts, including Prof. M K Sridhar, Prof. VP Niranjanaradhya, Dr John Vijay Sagar and other departments, including the home and health departments.
Source: deccanherald.com