Bengaluru, Oct 1 (IANS): Reiterating that schools and colleges would not open, Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister S. Suresh Kumar on Wednesday said that the state government's first priority is to protect our children rather than opening schools or colleges.

Speaking to reporters here, Kumar said that the state government would always side with parents and children and not with others. "My first priority is to listen to parents. Our government is for protecting children. As of now, we have time till October 15, as per the Central government's guidelines. We will take appropriate decisions before that."

He added that even after the Union government gave such directions to open schools, the state government would side with parents.

The minister affirmed that there was no confusion on our (state government) part on this issue.

"The Union government sent out Unlock-5 procedures only last night. As I have discussed this earlier, the state government would consult all stakeholders primarily parents whether to open schools or not. Their decision would be most important to us," he stressed.

He further added that in the event of taking decision to open schools, from which class it would be decided consulting with our elected representative, academicians, health experts and various other stakeholders.

It can be recalled that in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic, the Karnataka government had taken a decision about a fortnight ago that classes 9, 10, 11 and 12 were allowed to function partially.

In other words, teachers of these classes would be present in schools wherein students who had some doubts could come and get clarifications in respective subjects but there won't be regular classes.

This had led to strong speculations that Karnataka would recommence schools soon and this had led to serious debate among a section of parents who were vehemently opposing their kids going to school when pandemic cases are on the rise.

Meanwhile, owing to parental pressure on September 20, the Karnataka government prohibited Class 9 to 12 students from visiting schools and pre-university colleges to meet teachers in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.