The court also directed the government to raise money through CSR funds to procure laptops and tablets for government school students.
The Karnataka High Court, on Monday, directed the state government to reopen schools in a phased manner, starting with schools in taluks that have lesser number of COVID-19 cases. The High Court suggested that the state government take this approach rather than open up schools across Karnataka in a uniform manner. A division bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Nataraj Rangaswamy said that the state must "apply its mind" on whether schools must be reopened in a "phased manner having regard to the number of COVID-19 cases in a particular taluk" rather than adopting a uniform policy across the state, Live Law reported. "We (judiciary) have also gone district wise. From 10 now we have courts functioning in 17 districts. So go taluk wise, if cases are less in a particular taluk open schools in that taluk, on a regular basis, rather than saying throughout the state no schools," the report quoted Justice BV Nagarathna as saying. The High Court was hearing a Public Interest Litigation earlier this year, filed by AA Sanjeev Narrain, Arvind Narrain and Murali Mohan, stating that the state government had not provided clear information on steps taken for admission of children in Class 1 in government schools. The petition also stated that the government had not announced in detail the steps to be taken for reopening schools. In this view, the bench directed the government to file a status report with regard to steps taken for the admission of children to Class 1 after completing their stay at anganwadis. The court also directed the state government to submit a report on steps taken to ensure children in other classes at government schools have not dropped out, Bar & Bench reported. "Aforesaid directions are issued having regards to the fact that there was closure of schools from March 2020, due to covid-19. There is no regular functioning of school till date. The reasons as to why these directions are issued is in order to ascertain whether children during this period have been forced into child labour or child marriages or have been victims of trafficking," Bar & Bench quoted Justice Nagarathna as saying. The state government submitted that the Vidyagama scheme would begin again for students between classes 1 and 10 from Jan 1. It also submitted that a circular was issued to procure laptops and tablets for students in government schools and that the government had not yet raised money for this project. The High Court further suggested that the state government make appeals to private companies to pay for the scheme through CSR (corporate social responsibility) funds. "We think that state can make a specific appeal for aid to be sought through the mechanism of CSR, as envisaged under section 135 of Companies Act, so that the discontinuity in education of children or disruption thereof is mitigated, if there is good response to the appeal made by the state. Hence the state to take steps in this regard and report by the next date of hearing," Justice Nagarathna said while issuing directions to the state government.
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