Rural schools which do not enroll at least 15 students in classes 11 and 12 may be forced to close down that class and transfer students to another school in the neighbourhood. This was part of an order issued by the State government on Friday that asked the directors of School Education and Elementary Education Department, to transfer government teachers in surplus posting to schools with vacancies or additional need.

The order reiterated an existing rule that schools should achieve an enrolment of at least 30 students in urban areas and 15 in rural areas, in each stream, in classes 11 and 12, for that stream to be available in that school.

Government school teachers have, however, criticised this and said that the government should not enforce such restrictions. Enrolment will usually be poor in schools which are in remote locations. In most cases, the neighbouring higher secondary school will be 15-20 km away. If enforced, this will create a lot of dropouts, said PK Ilamaran, the president of the Tamil Nadu Government School Teachers Association.

A senior official from the School Education Department said that the rule, however, was not new and the department will not unethically force students to quit if they do not reach the required enrolment. The order said that the transfers had to be carried out in a manner that helps maintain the teacher-pupil ratio prescribed by the government for respective classes.