Full-day classes for class 9, 10 and PUC students to begin in Karnataka from February 1

The department has said offline or online classes will continue as per the choice of students and parents, and attendance will not be made compulsory.

The Karnataka government has directed the schools in the state to hold full-day classes for students of classes 9, 10 and first and second year Pre-University from February 1. Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar made the announcement regarding the same on Thursday. He further said that the decision was taken in consultation with the state Technical Advisory Committee for COVID-19, keeping in mind the health and educational future of the students, based on the experience we have gained so far.

"We held a discussion with the Health Minister (K Sudhakar) and COVID-19 Technical Advisory Committee members... at the meeting, it was decided to start full-day classes for class 9, 10, first and second year PUC (class 11 and 12) students from February 1," Suresh Kumar said.

The minister also announced that the Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board (KSEEB) will be conducting the Karnataka SSLC 2021 examinations between June 14 and June 25, 2021. While speaking to reporters, he said, the Vidyagama programme, which enables continued schooling for students from classes six to eight, will continue as it is. A decision on starting classes for the other students will be taken after observing the present set up till the second week of next month, he added.

Since early last year, the schools and PUC colleges in the state were kept closed due to the COVID-19 outbreak. The government had reopened them for class 10 and second-year PUC (class 12) students, along with Vidyagama programme for students from standards six to nine, from January 1 with the schools functioning for half day.

The department has said offline or online classes will continue as per choice of students and parents, and attendance will not be made compulsory. Kumar said they noticed interest among students in learning and they were preferring regular classes. Also, there had been demand from parents and School Development and Monitoring Committees (SDMCs) to have continued classes.

Read More:

• Karnataka SSLC exams 2021 to be conducted between June 14 and 25
• Karnataka SSLC Exam Pattern

• Karnataka SSLC Syllabus

• Karnataka SSLC in June, 2nd PUC exams 2021 in May, confirms Education Minister