Due to the upcoming General Elections which are scheduled to take place from April 19 onwards, students studying in Classes I to IX in Chennai will receive a minimum of 10 additional days of summer holidays.

The news was announced by the school education department on Thursday, March 21 and stated that the annual examinations for these students will take place from April 2 to 12.

It further said that the annual examinations will be held according to the schedule till April 22, as per a report by The New Indian Express.

Duties for Teachers

The circular released by the school education department states that teachers will be participating in training sessions for polling duties for the election conducted before April 19.

Subsequently, from April 23 to 26, they will be given the duties of assessment of answer sheets and the enrollment of students in government schools. It also said that April 26  will be their final working day for the academic year.

When will schools reopen?

However, the date of reopening of schools hasn't been announced yet, and will be done later.

An official from the department told The New Indian Express that this time reopening of schools will be delayed a bit. "While the schools are reopened on June 3 usually, it is expected to get delayed as the election results are scheduled to be announced on June 4. Even last year, the reopening was delayed due to the heat wave. So, we will decide on it depending on the situation," the official said.

Difficulty for students?
Teachers in the state expressed that the early administration of examinations is unlikely to impact students. A teacher told The New Indian Express that earlier incidents of natural calamities had never affected children's education. "Several districts in the state experienced additional holidays due to flooding. However, the majority of schools have successfully covered the curriculum on time, and students will only miss a few review tests," they added.

Officials further emphasised that there are no alterations in the dates for announcing results for Classes X, XI, and XII, and they will be proceeding with the activities as per the schedule.