PU colleges likely to reopen in Dakshina Kannada from next week; schools not soon

MANGALURU: While schools in Uttara Kannada District reopened for students of class 9 and 10, schools in Dakshina Kannada are unlikely to open soon. However, PU colleges will open in a graded manner from next Monday. The Udupi district administration is ramping up tests to bring positivity rate below 2% by the month-end and then take a call on opening schools.
DK deputy commissioner KV Rajendra, after holding a District Disaster Management Authority meeting on Monday, said a meeting of all stakeholders will be convened on Saturday to finalise the SOPs to be followed before reopening colleges.In the meantime, schools are unlikely to reopen till next fortnight. A decision will be taken after assessing the test positivity rate and reviewing how the PU colleges are functioning, he told reporters.
“Students will be expected to produce RT-PCR negative certificates. A lot of conditions are also expected to be laid including regular health check-ups and separate classes for day scholars and hostel inmates. A Covid care centre on campus will have to be set up,” said Rajendra.
At the meeting, it was decided to increase Covid tests to nearly 15,000 per day. “The positivity rate was 4.7% when we were conducting 7,000 tests per day. Now we are conducting 11,000 tests and the rate is around 3.1%,” he said.
He added that FIRs will be filed in case college administrations fail to adhere to the Covid protocols. This warning comes after nearly 600 to 900 students, who presented RT-PCR negative certificates, tested positive.
Scenes at Udupi and
Uttara Kannada
Schools in Uttara Kannada district reopened for students of classes 9 and 10. The positivity rate in Uttara Kannada as on Monday was 0.85 %. Though the number of students who attended the classes was low in some schools, education department officials said on average the attendance in both Karwar and Sirsi educational districts was satisfactory.
Diwakar Shetty, DDPI, Sirsi educational district, said classes started following the government’s order. Classes for the rest of the students from Std 1 to 8 will also commence if the government orders so, he added.
Udupi DC G Jagadeesha said on Monday that various measures have been taken to reduce the TPR below 2% by August 31. “We need to impose severe restrictions to bring TPR below 2%. There is no pressure to open schools in our district, but we are also hopeful of providing offline classes for our students like their counterparts in other parts of the state,” he added.