Udupi all set to welcome students back to campuses

UDUPI: District administration with the department of public instruction is all set to welcome students returning to campuses from January 1 through regular offline classes and Vidyagama 2.0.
While students of 10th and 12th standard will have regular offline classes in classrooms, students of classes 6 to 9 will be part of Vidyagama 2.0 that will be held on the school campus in the open in batches of students not exceeding 20.
The department has held extensive meetings with the stakeholders to prepare the ground for school reopening, deputy commissioner G Jagadeesha told reporters in Udupi on Tuesday.
While students of 10th standard and IInd PUC will have regular classes from 10am to 1pm, students of higher primary school – 6th and 7th standard - will have classes from 10am-12.30pm and those in high school – 8th and 9th standard - from 2pm-4.30pm.
Dr Naveen Bhat Y, chief executive officer, Udupi zilla panchayat said offline classes were voluntary and students might take online classes, including the educational broadcast of DD Chandana.
Students will have to get a consent letter from their parents expressing willingness to send their wards to offline classes, he said, adding teachers have been directed to get a Covid-19 negative certificate that is not older than 72 hours.
Classrooms will be sanitised after each use by a batch of students, he said.
"Every stakeholder on the campus will have to wear a mask and teachers have been asked to wear face shields as well. Thermal scanners requisitioned for recent gram panchayat polls will be distributed to schools to check students and teachers for temperature," he added.
No student or teacher with Covid-19 like symptoms will be allowed to enter the campus, Dr Bhat said.
Each school has been asked to keep a classroom to isolate students in case they come down with symptoms. They will be tested by the health department authorities there.
Naveen said, "Such students would not be allowed to be part of offline classes till their reports clear them. Teachers have been trained to be mentors to create awareness of Covid-19 among students. All assembly and sports activities have been banned as per state government guidelines".
Private bus operators have come forward to permit cashless travel through prepaid cards for students. The hitherto available concession will be made available to them through these cards as well.
Schools have been directed to sanitise the classrooms/toilets with 1 per cent Sodium Hypochlorite solution to ensure they don’t become a source of infection.
Every effort has been made to give a feel that schools are safe, the deputy commissioner added.