Karnataka government decides to reopen colleges after vaccination,

Bengaluru: On Tuesday, Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa said that the state is all set to open professional and degree colleges in a graded manner. However, the schools will not be opened anytime soon.

The government will consider reopening colleges in a phased manner linked with the extent of vaccination. This comes after officially accepting the interim report of the high-level committee for prevention and management of the Covid-19 third wave.

Yediyurappa said, “What the government is considering reopening of medical, engineering and other degree colleges first, after an aggressive approach towards vaccinating the students and teachers in these institutions. With regard to schools, we are still considering how and when to open.”

The statement comes after the committee recommended the government to reopen schools and colleges in a graded manner.

The CM clarified that reopening of colleges will be done on the basis of the extent of vaccination of students and teachers.

He said, “The suggestion is clear that we need to compulsorily vaccinate students and teachers and only then open colleges.”

The CM has also said that the government will prioritise students and teachers for vaccination in the coming days so that colleges can be reopened smoothly.

In the meantime, Yediyurappa stated that the interim report given by Dr Devi Shetty has yielded valuable suggestions to the government to assess the third wave of the pandemic which is likely to affect children largely.

He said, “Based on this assessment, the committee has urged us to consider ramping up the medical requirements including setting up high dependency units and intensive care units for children across the state apart from proper uninterrupted oxygen supply to the hospitals.”

In its recommendations, the committee has suggested the setting up of HDU and ICU wings in all district and taluk hospitals for children.

The government has agreed upon approaching private companies for their corporate social responsibility (CSR) contributions and have tie-ups with private hospitals and non-governmental organisations for the purpose of speeding up testing and inoculation of people.