Bengaluru: The education department has been urged to penalise schools that are still conducting offline classes for children from 1-5 standard.

The move comes in the wake of rising Covid-19 cases in the state. Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister, S Suresh Kumar said that schools are only allowed to conduct offline classes for students from standard 6 and above. This decision after taking into consideration the recommendations of the Covid-19 technical advisory committee.

He further added that there were reports of schools violating this rule, and instructed the Commissioner of Public Instruction to set up monitoring committees to identify such schools.