EXPLAINER
Proposed by the Karnataka government, ‘school bubbles’ is not a novel concept and was first implemented by certain countries in 2020.
With two metropolitans in India gearing up to reopen schools, there are concerns around potential COVID-19 spread among children. While Delhi has issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) as it readies to welcome kids back to classrooms, Bengaluru has proposed a concept called ‘school bubbles’ to keep chances of transmission at a minimum.
Proposed by the Karnataka government’s Covid-19 Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), ‘school bubbles’ is not a novel concept and was first implemented by certain countries in 2020.
The government sees school bubbles as an effective preventive measure that can mitigate the risk of potential COVID-19 transmission across students of different classes and batches in schools.
What does the concept of ‘school bubbles’ mean?
School bubbles is basically dividing students into distinct groups wherein they can only interact with pupils in their bubbles. These groups can be created depending on class size, academic year or areas where students reside.
Students are supposted to mix only with children in their school bubble all through the academic year or the officially set timeline for how long the system would remain in place.
Why school bubbles can make curbing a COVID-19 outbreak easier?
If one student tests positive for COVID-19, the only other pupils in the school who will be required to quarantine or self-isolate will be those in the particular bubble. Rest of the students and the school can keep functioning normally.
Owing to the smaller set of students who need to be managed, activities like contact-tracing and testing are also easier if infections stay inside school bubbles.
As per experts, school bubbles also help the management identify who to self-isolate and how to keep as many students as possible at school in the event of a positive case.
How effective are they?
The concept of school bubbles was enforced in the UK last year in July. The concept proved effective in reducing the prevalence of COVID-19 in schools in the country with the caseload much lesser in June 2021 compared to 2020.
As per Public Health England, school bubbles, alongside other measures like rapid and widespread asymptomatic testing, staff vaccination and systematic isolation ensured that classrooms did not become “hubs of infection” even when the third wave took hold of the UK.
The implementation of school bubble concept by the UK was also mentioned by the Karnataka government when revealing its proposal, stating that the concept is an intervention aiming to “pragmatically balance the risk of COVID-19 spread versus ensuring a near-normal experience for learners.”
The concept of school bubbles has also been implemented in Doha, Qatar.
Why is it recommended for primary school kids?
In the case of younger kids in primary school, bubbles prove more effective compared to social distancing protocol. This is because small children struggle to maintain social distancing with each other in a group. This makes small school bubbles more effective in ensuring a safe, protected and monitored return to school for these young pupils.