Karnataka colleges reopen date: State issues SOPs ahead of opening

Karnataka colleges reopen date: As Karnataka plans to reopen colleges from November 17, the state government has issued news standardized operating procedure (SOPs) as per the UGC guidelines.    

Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwatha Narayana, who is also the minister of higher education, informed on Monday that preparation is underway to enable the start off-line classes.
“The SOP has separate advisories set for the students of the final year and the classes will be conducted accordingly. Likewise, there are separate advisories set for the students of first and second-year students of the courses,” he said.

While conducting the physical classes social distance needs to be maintained by taking into account the total number of students and the available total number of classrooms, as per the guidelines of the health department and the present advisories.  

Teaching, practical and project classes should be conducted on shift system, if it is necessary. For those students who want to skip attending physical classes, an online facility will be there.  
Contact classes should be conducted every day to facilitate students to clarify any doubts and resolve issues of such students with regard to topics, as per the SOP.  

“The time table should be prepared at the college level itself so as to enable to maintain the social distance as per the guidelines of the health department and the present advisories based on the total number of students and the available number of classrooms while conducting the contact classes,” it said.

According the SOP, the teaching faculty should prepare the study materials required for the duration of one month based on each period/session and compulsorily send it to concerned students via Telegram/ WhatsApp/E-mail.

All staff and students have been asked to undergo RT-PCR tests, three days prior to the college re-opening, as per the new SOP. The SOP says that colleges should map closest primary health centres, so that students and staff can get their tests done for free.  

It makes wearing masks mandatory for everyone and asks teachers to wear a visor too.  College canteen and libraries will remain shut until further notice.
Class leaders have been asked to keep a check on fellow students in case anyone exhibits Covid-19 symptoms. Cultural activities and other activities like NCC and NSS cannot commence now.  

Further, respective college authorities have been asked to regularly spray and sanitise door-knobs, lift buttons, handrails, chairs and benches with disinfectants regularly.  
All educational institutions in the state have been closed since mid-March.  

Earlier in October, the advisor to the Karnataka government on education reforms, Professor MR Doreswamy had also advised the government to reopen degree colleges before reopening of schools.  

Postgraduate and final year students who wish to attend classes physically should bring in the consent letter of their parents in the prescribed duly signed by them.
It may be recalled that the reopening of colleges was decided on October 23 following a meeting chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Narayan.  

As announced by the government earlier, students can choose to attend the online or offline classes as part of a blended learning process mode.  

So far, schools in the state have been ordered to remain closed. A decision to partially reopen schools for 9-12 standard students in October was deferred due to a spurt of cases among students and teachers in northern Karnataka.  

See Zee Business Live TV Streaming Below:

With inputs from ANI