Expert panel recommends to reopen schools in Karnataka

Bengaluru: The expert committee made to suggest measures to handle the third wave of Covid has recommended reopening the schools along with health insurance of Rs 2 lakh for each child attending offline classes.

The ‘High Level Expert Committee for Prevention and Management Covid wave-3’ had submitted its report to the state government on Saturday. It contains special requirements and various aspects of healthcare delivery.

A panel member said, “We have recommended a health cover of Rs 2 lakh to every child going to school to be sponsored by the state. This is not life insurance cover. The same has been tried in some countries. This way, we can build confidence among parents to send their wards to schools.”

The report says the possibility of the infection spreading through schools has not been reported from anywhere till now. It says, “There is an urgent need to offer scientific and definitive guidance for school reopening as any delay in achieving near normalisation of schooling will be more detrimental than Covid-19 itself.”

The panel has recommended the opening of all government, aided and unaided schools in rural areas, smaller towns and bigger towns.

As per the projections made by the committee, 3.4 lakh of Karnataka’s 2.3 crore children in the 0-18 age group are likely to contract the virus in the third wave. Out of those, 23,806 children might need hospitalisation, 6,801 ICU, and 43,358 would need Covid Care Centres and the rest can be treated at home. Also, 85% of children will be asymptomatic.

Doctors who observed the report are of the view that schools can be reopened once the positivity rate in all the districts falls below 5% for two weeks.

The report says that digital learning has achieved less than expected and has also created large gaps in learning and educational inequality. The report says, “any further delay in school reopening may push children into malnutrition, child labour, child marriage, child trafficking and begging, worsening their condition.”

It added, “Awareness drive on physical distancing, mask, sanitisation and good ventilation of the premises should be ongoing and effective in all schools. The day to day troubleshooting needs to happen locally, taking clues from broader state guidelines.”