Page 17 - EducationWorld October 2020

community’s demand. private schools in Karnataka have
With reserved quota students set paid contracted fees during the past
lower marks thresholds in entrance quarter (April-June).
exams of public universities, even if With the government dithering
the cause of social justice is served, on the issue of reopening the state’s
academic standards take a beating. primary-secondary schools, parents
Therefore, it’s hardly a wonder that have also become nervous. “While
none of India’s 1,000 universities — I would like schools to reopen with
some of them of 150 years vintage — is safety precautions, realistically
ranked among the Top 200 in highly speaking it’s not practical. Maintain-
respected World University Rankings ing physical distancing, wearing
of the London-based agencies QS and masks and maintaining discipline at
Times Higher Education. Against this, all times is very difficult. Therefore,
six Chinese universities in which ad- I prefer online classes this aca-
missions are entirely merit based, are demic year for my son,” says Divya
ranked among the QS Top 200. Sreedharan whose son is a class VI
Dipta Joshi (Mumbai) student of the Auro Mirra Interna-
Suresh Kumar: indecision & confusion tional School, Bangalore.
KARNATAKA hile most upscale private
Heavy dithering price cision regarding reopening of schools Wschools have smoothly
switched to online classes, the great
in the state yet. The government does
not have any such plans to reopen majority of government and low-
he vacillation of the bjp schools at present. We are taking priced budget private schools (BPS)
government of Karnataka on the opinions of legislators, MPs, and don’t have the infrastructure to
Tthe issue of reopening K-12 concerned people. We will also have provide online learning. Neither do
schools in the state is causing great a discussion with education experts students of low-priced affordable
confusion within school manage- and institutions.” private and government schools
ments, parents’ communities and The indecision and resultant con- have digital devices (laptop, PCs
among students. According to the fusion is costing private schools and and smartphones) to learn online.
normative calendar, the state’s students heavily. While government And with the first quarter of the new
46,000 government and 20,000 pri- teachers continue to receive their sal- academic year already lost, children
vate schools (aggregate enrolment: aries, private schools — particularly in government and BPS are likely to
15 million students) should have budget private schools which charge suffer considerable loss of learning
commenced classes in June. But be- fees as low as Rs.300 per month — unless schools reopen as soon as pos-
cause of fear of vulnerable children are experiencing increasing difficulty sible.
being susceptible to the dreaded in meeting payroll expenses. “Schools have to move towards
Coronavirus which is raging state- “The state government’s educa- the pre-Covid era as the citizenry
wide and has already claimed 9,891 tion ministry has issued circulars learns to live with the risks, until a
lives, the decision to restart schools deferring school fees payment for vaccine is invented and adminis-
has been put off time and again. parents. At the same time, it has tered. Meanwhile, school manage-
On July 29, the state’s primary directed school managements to ments have to take safety precau-
and secondary education minister conduct online classes and pay tions — masks for everyone, social
S. Suresh Kumar informed media teacher and staff salaries. How can distancing, thorough sanitization of
and the public that schools would we pay teachers and staff when our classrooms and premises etc. More-
restart in September. But with the income flows have dried up? This over, they could divide classes with
number of Covid positive cases and confusion has cost budget private half the number attending on alter-
fatalities continuing to rise, Kumar schools heavily and many are on the nate days. But classroom learning
(who himself recently tested positive verge of bankruptcy,” says Shashi and attendance can’t be delayed any
for the virus) stated schools would be Kumar, president of the Associated further,” says Prof. G. Raghuram,
open for senior secondary students Managements of Primary & Second- former director of IIM-Bangalore
to “clarify their doubts with teachers” ary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS, and currently principal academic
on September 21. But come Sep- estb.1988). According to the Delhi- advisor at the National Rail and
tember and the date was deferred to based NISA (National Independent Transportation Institute, Vadodara.
October 15. Again on October 3, he Schools Alliance), a mere 5 percent This advice is unlikely to prompt
declared: “We have not taken any de- of parents of children in budget the state’s BJP government which is

OCTOBER 2020 EDUCATIONWORLD 17