What is ‘school bubble’ proposed for Karnataka’s institutes amid COVID-19

 As schools and colleges gradually begin to reopen after a long COVID-19 induced hiatus, the Karnataka government constituted technical advisory committee (TAC) proposed the ‘school bubble’ concept to alleviate the spread of the virus among children attending offline classes at their respective institutions.

In this article, readers will find everything about this ‘School Bubble’ concept and how it is significant in keeping our children safe as they step out.

Also Read: Maharashtra schools to teach agriculture, agronomy: Aditiya Thackeray

What is a school bubble- the concept?

School bubbles are a classification of groups consisting of a small number of students.

As per the concept, each batch will be divided into smaller sub-sections. These subsections are called ‘school bubbles’. One bubble will include students who tend to remain as a group during school hours throughout the term or an academic year.

According to TAC, this division will help the institute management to isolate a fewer number of students in case anyone gets infected.

Also Read: Nearly 60% Americans support face mask mandate in schools, poll finds

This can be understood this way if one bubble comprises 20 students and one of them catches the virus, the other 19 can self-isolate themselves without the need of completely shutting down the institute because the group will come in contact with each other only.

Why are school bubbles significant

The concept scales down the possibility of virus contraction to a great extent and prevents the entire facility to suffer or shut down due to one case. 

By segmenting children, it will be easier to track the point of contact and thus, the process will be faster and careful.

Apart from that, experts feel, this model will be more relevant to students studying in primary school or below. These students will have more chances of peer-to-peer interactions on a daily basis.

When will school bubbles be implemented?

The committee has submitted a detailed proposal describing the concept to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. A final call is expected to be taken by the state government after discussion with the key stakeholders like schools, parents committee, teachers and school management etc.

The inspiration

The school bubbles concept as per TAC has been earlier implemented by the United Kingdom to operate schools. The government there has further relaxed social-distancing measures for students within a particular school bubble. However, all members of the bubble are mandatorily subjected to RT-PCR tests if a student gets tested positive for coronavirus.