With the education department being permitted to issue directives, on school re-opening, a educational institutions in Karnataka are preparing to re-open with the following timeline: Pre-primary - 20/7/2020 1st – 3rd grade - 15/7/2020 4th – 7th grade 1/7/2020 8th – 10th grade 15/7/2020 Schools will have the onus to ensure that child safety measures are implemented. Social distancing and hygiene norms should be implemented and be driven from a top-down perspective – this includes allied processes like transportation, catering, sports activities and after school activities. The Early Childhood Association and Association for Primary Education and Research has provided a comprehensive guidelines for children, teachers and parents to be followed upon re-opening. Please click here to access the guidelines. This means fostering a robust Child Safety Committee and School Management Committee in schools as mandated by the Karnataka Education Act and Right to Education Act. Similarly, universities and colleges are to follow the guidance of the UGC in completing the examinations for the past academic year and commencing the classes. Please click here to access the UGC circular. School Fees Most states in India had deferred payment of school fees and schools were not allowed to increase the fees for the next academic year. In Karnataka for example, the schools were directed not to insist on fee payment and to permit fee payment in instalments. Working Hours & Labour Laws In the wake of COVID – 19 pandemic, several states in India have exempted employers and businesses from complying with certain labour laws, including payment of wages and working hours. Thus some respite may be available for educational institutions in respect of the man-power services such facilities and security contracts. However, CBSE has advised states and union territories to issue suitable instructions of payment of salaries to the teaching and non-teaching staff during the period of pandemic. Do reach out to legal counsel to ascertain specific relaxations that may have become available in your state, since some of these circulars are under active litigations. Relaxation in contractual obligations The Ministry of Finance issued an Official Memorandum dated February 19, 2020 clarifying that COVID _19 is a "Fore Majeure". Another circular dated May 13, 2020 (applicable to Public-Private Partnership (PPP) contracts) provides for an extension of 3 – 6 months for those contracts that had to be completed on or after February 20, 2020. These time-lines can be applied to other contracts as well. Extension in Validity of NOCs The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs has in its circular dated 28th May, 2020 directed all departments to consider an extension of validity of NOCs by atleast 9 months and a further 3 months on discretionary basis. These include NOCs issued by RERA, Pollution Control Board, Forest Dept, Municipal/Development Authority, Inspectors of Factory etc. Hence any NOCs for commencing educational institutions may also be eligible for extensions. Financial Obligations While loan moratoriums have been granted, if you have issued a bank guarantee you may not be in the green. Courts have held that Bank Guarantees can be enforced by a holder even in the Force Majeure situation. Consult legal counsel so that you can take an informed stand. Payment of Rent on Leased Premises No exemption to payment of rental has been made available in view of force majeure. You can however negotiate with your land-lord to provide phased rental payments. The Delhi High Court on May 21, 2020 in the case of Ramanand & Ors v. Dr. Girish Soni & Another, rejected the tenant’s application for suspension of rent during COVID-19 lockdown and stated that some postponement or relaxation in the schedule of payment can be granted owing to the lockdown. Employer Obligations As an employer, you are obligated to follow the National Directive as stated in Annexure II of the MHA Order dated May 17, 2020 such as WFH, sanitisation & hygiene, thermal scanning, social distancing etc. Negligence of the employer followed with your employees testing positive for COVID will attract legal action. Please click here to access the MHA Order . Change is the only constant. Courts are functioning and interpreting clauses in a new light. So ensure to stay updated, else you might be out-dated!

In order to ensure schools are a safe place for both children and teachers and to prevent sexual assault and sexual harassment perpetrated against children or teachers, schools are required to mandatorily implement the following legislations: Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO Act) Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act & Rules) Compliances under POCSO Penetrative/other sexual assault against children(a person < 18 years of age) by persons in the management/staff of an educational institution is punishable with imprisonment of 20 years extending upto the remaining life of the offender; Obligation on any person with apprehension/knowledge of the likely commission of a sexual offence. to report to the police; Failure to so report - punishable with imprisonment upto six months/ a fine/ both; If a person-in-charge of an institution fails to report the commission of an offence by a subordinate under his control, the person-in charge is punishable with imprisonment; Child protection safeguards to be implemented in schools - Child Protection Policy & expeditious complaints mechanism. Compliances under POSH Every employer (employing more than 10 employees) - to constitute an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC)- to address sexual harassment grievances of women employees; ICC has jurisdiction over all types of employees - contract workers, part-time employees, interns, etc; Employer to conduct annual sensitization/awareness workshop for all its employees to on healthy and safe workplaces for women; Annual report to be filed with the labour commissioner regarding number of complaints received and addressed during the year; Companies must include a section about POSH complaints in the included in the directors' responsibility statement, which forms a part of the company's annual report ; Failure to comply with the POSH Act & Rules by an employer will attract a penalty of upto Rs. 50,000/-, imprisonment as well as withdrawal of applicable trade licenses; In some states such as Telangana, Maharashtra the POSH ICC committee needs to be registered with the appropriate authority

The latest circular issued by the Office of Commissioner is regarding the manner in which the fee collected by Unaided Private Schools for the academic year 2020-21 are to be fixed and published on the Education Department Website . All unaided private schools shall by December 31, 2019 publish the fee information for the convenience of students who are already enrolled and for new students who will enroll. Determination of Fee The maximum tuition fee in respect of private unaided educational institutions shall be fixed taking into consideration a percentage (70-100%) of the running and maintenance cost of the school including salary expenditure on teaching and non teaching staff, depending on the location of the school - ie whether with BBMP limits. The development fees are also capped at Rs.2500/-.The annual increase of school fees is capped at 15%. The Schools are required to login on sts.karnataka.gov.in and publish the fee information under "know my school" category. With regard to this, all Deputy Directors and Field Education Officers have to examine if the schools within their respective jurisdictions have provided the information on SATS website and to take appropriate action against schools that have not provided the information on SATS website.

As per the Karnataka Labour Department’s circular dated 17th October, 2019 all organisations which are registered under the K’taka Shops & Commercial Establishments Act have to mandatorily comply with the wages indicate under the Minimum Wages Notifications. This means that organisations will have to now pay wages atleast as much as those that are notified from time to time by the Minimum Wages Notification. You can access the notification here: http://164.100.133.176/Labour1/Docs/NotificationonProvisionofPaymentofwagesAct1936.pdf Please find below the link containing the type of employment and the minimum wages for the period from 1stApril, 2019 till 31st March 2020: http://labour.kar.nic.in/labour/69%20%20Employment%20in%20Shops%20and%20Commercial%20Establishments.pdf Note that employers who do not comply with the Minimum Wages Act are liable to be punished with penalty in addition to simple imprisonment. Therefore all establishments having a shops & establishments registration in Karnataka must take cognisance of the minimum wages as per the notification and ensure that employees whether direct or contractual are being paid at least those amounts.

Some resources for standards of school safety in Karnataka are: NCPCR (National Commission For Protection Of Child Rights)- Manual on safety and security of children in schools Right to Education Act & Rules CBSE & ICSE Boards’ infrastructural directives Karnataka Educational Institutions (Classifications Regulation & Prescription of Curricula etc) Rules, 2017 has directives on child safety measures to be implemented in schools Karnataka State Child Protection Policy These cover the following aspects of safety in schools: School Building, Fire Safety Management Health, Personal & Sexual Safety, Earthquake / Flood/Cyclone/landslide Management, Social & Emotional Safety, Electrical Safety, Safety from Constructional Hazards, Safety in the Playground and Sports Activities, Water Safety, Lab Safety, Transport Management Safety, Trauma Management, Safety of the children with disabilities, Sanitation and Hygiene and Cyber Safety. Schools should have a Child Protection Policy and constitute a Child Protection Committee to ensure child safety. The latest directives of the Karnataka School Education Departments dated 21.10.2019 & 07.11.2019 instruct all schools as follows: This circular is instructs all schools to follow the NCPCR guidelines which is contained in Handbook called "Manual on Safety and Security of Children in Schools". All School Principals are required to conduct an evaluation of the school according to the NCPCR checklist. All the Field Education Officers and Deputy Directors are also instructed to ensure that this is followed by the schools. Further specific directives are: CCTV’s in the class Drug & tobacco free ( school campus & 100m vicinity) impose a speed limit to 20 km around the school areas during the opening and closing hours of school All Government and Aided/Unaided schools should obtain a certificate of building safety every 2 years from the concerned authorities Latest news reports suggest that the compliance drive is going to be taken seriously and schools that fail to comply with this can be penalised up to ₹10 lakh.

Introduction Concerned by the increased consumption of foods high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) by school going children, the government has initiated regulation on the kinds of food that are being made available to children in and around the schools. The Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006 (“Act”) is a statute on food safety and regulation in India. FSSAI (Food Safety and Standards Authority of India) is the body responsible for protecting and promoting public health through the regulation and supervision of food safety. The draft Food Safety and Standards (Safe food and healthy diets for School Children) Regulations, 2019 (“Regulation”) released in November 2019, intends to regulate all meals provided at schools to ensure that it is safe and healthy for children. Applicability The draft Regulation makes the new rules applicable to the following kinds of schools (note- its agnostic to type & applies to schools run by private entities, local bodies, government or aided by government): (i) Pre-primary; (ii) Primary; (iii) Elementary; (iv) Secondary; (v) Day-care/crèche; or (vi) Boarding “School meals” refers to all foods & beverages sold or supplied on the school campus through canteens/school mess/hostel kitchens/vending machines or any other method and include all meals served through mid-day meal kitchens and catered for students by the school. FSSAI Registrations/Licensing The notification makes registration/licensing of the following entities mandatory: (i) Schools selling or catering school meals by itself in the school campus is required to be registered as a “Food Business Operator” (FBO). This means that schools having its own kitchen and serving meals whether free of cost or on a chargeable basis shall be liable to register themselves as an FBO. (ii) Any School Authority entering into a contract or transaction with FBOs selling or catering school meals shall ensure that such FBOs are registered or licensed; and (iii) The Department of School Education shall ensure that all FBOs contracted by it for operation of the Mid-Day Meal scheme are registered or licensed. General Guidance for Providing Safe and Wholesome Food to Children The draft Regulation provides general guidelines for selection of foods for children at schools. These are: The school menu is required to include 75-80% of healthy foods such as cereals, millets, pulses, milk, milk products, egg, meat and fish, fruits and vegetables, oils, fats, nuts and oilseeds and such other cooked foods. Foods such as desserts, packed foods, bakery products, beverages (packed soups and juices) can be given occasionally in small portions. Foods which are referred to as foods high in fat, salt and sugar (HFSS) are discouraged and cannot be given or sold to school children in school canteens/mess premises/hostel kitchens or within 50 meters of the school campus. HFSS foods include deep fried foods such as french fries, fried chips, samosa, chola bhatura, gulab jamun etc. sugar sweetened carbonated or non-carbonated beverages, ready to eat food, noodles, pizzas, burgers, confectionery items, sugar and sugar based products etc. These draft Regulations have been published and public objections/opinion has been sought. These will be enforceable only after they are formally notified by the FSSAI. Until then, schools can prepare to adopt a cautious and sustained effort towards eliminating junk food from campuses.