Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi said that a decision on the reopening of schools would be taken only after taking the COVID-19 situation into consideration and consulting with various stakeholders.
Following Puducherry’s decision to reopen schools for senior classes from July 16, private school associations have asked for a decision to be taken in Tamil Nadu.
“Following the announcement made by the Puducherry government, the Education Department held a meeting on Monday. Depending on what the department officials and other stakeholders put forth, we will convey their recommendations to the Chief Minister who will then decide based on how the COVID-19 situation in the State is,” the Minister said on Tuesday.
Mr. Poyyamozhi also said that the government would observe and study the measures Puducherry puts in place in its educational institutions. “We will also take into consideration what parents feel about reopening of schools and whether they are confident about the safety of the students,” he added.
While NEET (UG) is scheduled to be held on September 12, the Minister once again reiterated that the Tamil Nadu government’s stance was against the conduct of the exam. “Coaching however has been parallelly going on since November 2020 for students of government schools. In January 2021, additional coaching programs to help students crack competitive exams were also started,” he said.
As of last week, the School Education Minister said that nearly 3.40 lakh students have joined government schools across the State. “Many of these students have come from private and government-aided schools. We will work towards ensuring that there is adequate infrastructure including teachers in place. We are also discussing training that can be given to teachers this year,” he said.