Bengaluru, May 20 (IANS): Karnataka on Wednesday decided to set up an expert panel to frame guidelines for primary and secondary education for 2021-22 amid apprehensions of third Covid wave hitting the state and upsetting even this academic year's plans.

State Education Minister, S. Suresh Kumar told reporters that the state government cannot afford to ignore lakhs of students in rural areas and several poor students who lack basic internet facilities in urban areas too.

"Going by our previous academic year's experience, students hailing from these two segments were the worst-affected. Hence, there is a need for a relook into our approach to give them better education from this academic year at least," he said after the meeting with academicians and experts here.

Answering a question, Kumar added that the Education Department would soon have a joint meeting with the Women and Child Welfare department too in order to come out with a concrete plan to protect children from a possible third wave.

According to a statement released by the minister's office, the committee will comprise eminent educationists, representatives from the Indian Institute of Science, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro-Sciences (Nimhans), child specialists, members of Technical Advisory Committee on Covid, eminent health experts apart from officers and representatives of parents, private schools and teachers associations.

It will oversee assessment models, online education, offline education besides teacher training methodology, pragmatic utilisation of budgetary resources, and many other related issues.

The implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) in letter and spirit will be on the top of the agenda during the ensuing academic year, he said in the statement.

Meanwhile, Kumar also added that dependents of government and government-aided school teachers who died on Covid duty will get financial assistance from the Teachers Benefit Fund.

He also said that it has also been decided to put up a proposal to the Health Department to term teachers Covid warriors and provide them priority in administering Covid vaccine.

The process of teacher recruitment would be expedited by completing the formality of cadre and recruitment amendment as early as possible.

Last year too, Karnataka had constituted the expert committee headed by noted educationist M. K. Sridhar to look into imparting online education in the wake of the Covid-19, and it had recommended teaching online or by using printed material.