BENGALURU: After resuming physical classes, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) schools are seeing 56% attendance in classes I to VII and the number is increasing by the day.
BBMP data accessed by STOI reveals 1,729 of 3,086 students enrolled in the agency’s 16 schools are attending classes and no Covid-19 case has been reported from these educational institutions. Umesh DS, assistant commissioner, BBMP (education), said the schools are also seeing a rise in admissions.
Drawing a comparison between children attending private schools and their counterparts in BBMP schools, Umesh said the option to study online does not exist in case of the latter and thus, they prefer offline classes.
“Private schools have the options of online and offline classes, so children are able to get an education regardless of the situation. But in our case, students have waited for schools to reopen so that they can resume their education,” he said. “Parents are keen to provide education to their children,” Umesh added.
BBMP officials said the attendance could have been 100% if not for parents’ fear that their children may contract Covid. Shankar Reddy Babu, special commissioner, education, BBMP, said their schools are doing much better than private ones because the hunger for knowledge is more among the sections of society they cater to. “We are providing free education and the quality has improved. The teaching is good and admissions are happening,” Reddy added.
