Tamil Nadu: Schools for Classes 9 – 12 to reopen on this date

The Tamil Nadu government has proposed to resume physical classes for students from Classes 9 to 12 from September 1. School and college students across the country have been attending online classes this year until now due to the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin arrived at the decision after discussing and reviewing the Covid-19 situation with medical experts. The schools, however, would only be allowed to operate for students at 50 percent capacity. The CM reportedly said, “The experts said children were under depression since they continue to remain indoors, and it has created a gap in the learning process among students. Moreover, they pointed out that a majority of students could not attend online classes being due to network and gadget issues. Hence, it seems important now to reopen schools for the all-round well-being of the students.”

Stating that government schools are being equipped with sufficient teachers and classrooms due to a surge in the enrolment from private schools, school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi said, “We had 2,04,379 students enrolling in the more than 40,000 government schools till last week as people are economically impacted by the pandemic. While around 20 to 40 students enrolled in many schools, in some schools the strength has more than doubled to 700.”