Karnataka school break Covid rules, takes kids on school trip, govt issued notice

A private school in Karnataka took its students on a five-day trip to Hyderabad in blatant violation of the state government’s Covid-19 safety protocols. As many as 130 students and a few high school staff at Cluny Convent in Jalahalli, which is affiliated with the Karnataka State Council, left for Hyderabad on Thursday evening.

The trip goes against state government instructions that schools and colleges not hold any cultural and educational activities due to the emergence of Omicron and Covid clusters across the state. The Ministry of Education which intervened after parents who had not sent their children on the trip complained about it has now issued a notice to the school for violating Covid protocols and provisions of the National Disaster Management Act (NDMA).

In its defense, the school claimed that there was no mention of the relocation in the standard operating procedure issued by the ministry and that it had obtained parental consent forms for the relocation. According to parents, the school charged Rs 10,000 per student for the trip and made arrangements for hotel accommodation in Hyderabad.

As per the itinerary available with DH, the plan included visits to Golconda Fort, Birla Mandir, Lumbini Garden, among others, and a return trip to Bengaluru on Monday, December 13. “When we are all worried that children are infected with Covid-19, the school is so irresponsible to take them on trips,” said one of the parents.

Another parent said he said no to his children because of “the increase in pediatric cases”. Reacting to the question, the school administration said that “the SoP provided to us by the department made no mention of the trip even though it prohibited all educational activities”.

“We organized the trip according to the requests of the students and parents. Before finalizing the trip, we had taken parental consent forms. The travel agency had taken all measures to ensure the safety of the children, ”the school said.

Also Read: Omicron Good News: Virus detected within 2 hours, ICMR designed new testing kit

The education ministry said it was not aware of the trip until the block’s education official received the parents’ complaints. “We have issued a show cause notice to the school authorities and also ordered them to immediately return to Bengaluru with all the students,” said Deputy Director of Public Education Bengaluru North.

Also Read: IPL 2022: Ruturaj Gaikwad CSK next captain after Dhoni