No reopening of schools in Tamil Nadu for now, says minister KA Sengottaiyan

VELLORE: Tamil Nadu School Education Minister KA Sengottaiyan on Wednesday said schools in the state would not be reopened now due to the prevailing pandemic situation.

Talking to reporters in Vellore on Wednesday, he said, “In Andhra Pradesh, schools were reopened but it led to several students being infected with COVID-19. We don't want to expose children to the virus. So, we will have to take a decision only after consulting medical experts on the issue.”

The minister ruled out any change in the decision to fix 40 years as the upper age limit for the appointment of school teachers.

He informed that efforts were on to provide 7.5 per cent reservation in medical admissions to students of government schools from the current year itself.

Earlier, he distributed recognition and renewal certificates to matriculation schools in Vellore, Ranipet, Tirupathur and Tiruvannamalai districts at a function held in Sunbeam School in Vellore.

Stating that the Tamil Nadu government would soon announce special programmes for development of school education, Sengottaiyan said, “We are establishing smart classrooms in 7,500 schools. Eighty thousand smart boards are going to be distributed to government schools. Black boards will be phased out in two years from now.”

He stated that Atal Tinkering Labs would be set up at 982 schools in the state.

Boasting of improving the standard of school education through various initiatives including revision of the curriculum, the minister said 174 questions in the NEET exam were from the syllabus in the state. “This shows how much the curriculum has been improved in the state,” he said.

Tamil Nadu Ministers KC Veeramani (Commercial Taxes and Registration) and Nilofer Kafeel (Labour and Employment) were also present at the event, in which recognition and renewal certificates were issued to 275 schools.

Sengottaiyan assured that a new education district, with Gudiyatham in Vellore district as its headquarters, would soon be created.