Tamil Nadu government postpones schools reopening; new dates to be released soon

Schools in Tamil Nadu will not be reopened on November 16, after most of the parents expressed their opinion against it amid the crisis.  

Tamil Nadu government has postponed the reopening of schools in the state. The new dates of reopening of schools will be announced by the state government after assessing the coronavirus situation in the state soon. The schools for Classes 9 to 12 which were scheduled to reopen from November 16 will not reopen now.

The decision to postpone the reopening of schools in the state was taken after most of the parents expressed their opinion against schools reopening in the state amid the pandemic. The state government had taken after holding consultation with parents and teachers on schools reopening after they faced widespread criticism from parents' bodies. While colleges were also earlier scheduled to function from November 16 , the government said colleges and varsities shall reopen from December 2 only for research scholars and final year postgraduate students of science and technology streams.

"Re-opening of schools is deferred for now. Order for re-opening of schools for classes 9, 10, 11 & 12 from Nov 16 is withdrawn. Final year students & research scholars will be allowed to attend classes & stay in hostels," Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami announced.

The state government had conducted parents and teachers meet in government schools, government-aided schools, and private schools on November 9, 2020. More than 12,000 schools conducted the meeting with parents to take their opinion on the reopening of schools. Around 45 per cent of parents of school students gave feedback on whether schools should be reopened in the state or not.

As per reports, many parents of students of private schools were not in favor of schools reopening in November and wanted schools reopening to postpone till January. However, parents of students of government schools wanted schools to reopen in November.

“The opening of colleges for all other courses will be announced later,” the government said in an official release adding hostels would be opened only for those students who shall resume studies from next month.

“The order on reopening schools from November 16 for classes 9-12 is cancelled. An announcement on reopening schools will be made later based on the situation,” the government said based on the feedback received from parents.

As on November 11, a total of 7,50,409 people had tested positive for Covid-19 in Tamil Nadu out of which 7,20,339 recovered. While 18,655 was the number of active cases, the death toll stood at 11,415.

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