Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Sengottaiyan courted fresh controversy yesterday when he said that ‘robots’ would be replacing teachers very soon on Govt. Schools across the State.

Speaking to newsmen at Namakkal, the Minister said that thatched-roofed Schools in the State would soon become a thing of the past. “The new educational curriculum (syllabus) of State Board Schools is on par with that of the CBSE; educational system is being revamped so as to give students plenty of employment opportunities soon after they complete their secondary schooling,” he said.

He also revealed that the Govt. planned to ‘introduce’ 500 Robots replacing teachers in Govt. Schools across the State. The Minister’s talk of replacing teachers with ‘robots’ has elicited sharp reaction from the Teachers’ Federation as well as political parties.

“The the Govt. is recruiting 13,000 new teachers even as it talks about using 500 robots to replace those teachers.  This is highly ridiculous,” said Dass, general secretary of the Teachers’ Federation. “It is ridiculous and shocking to hear the Ministers talk about ‘replacing’ teachers with robots; after all, who in the whole world can replace an ideal teacher in molding the students’ lives?” he wondered.