The Tamil Nadu government has announced that schools will reopen for Class 10 and 12 from January 19. However, the government has directed schools to not permit more than 25 students in a classroom. Hostels will also be allowed to operate in order for students to be able to attend classes.
The government has issued a list of SOPs and other guidelines for the schools to follow. Besides, the social distancing and sanitisation, the Department of Health will be providing vitamin and zinc tablets to all students to ensure that their immunity levels are high. In the notice, the Chief Minister said that since the COVID-19 infection rates have gone down, the government had decided that it would be safe to reopen the schools.
The government stated that on December 28, a meeting was held with MLAs and health care officials who discussed the possibility of reopening schools. A survey conducted among parents between January 6-8 showed that 95 per cent of parents were fine with schools reopening. The government has requested parents and students to cooperate with them to ensure SOPs are followed properly.
Several teacher associations had been demanding that schools reopen soon since not all students had had access to online classes and many had fallen behind. The teachers were not supportive of the idea of promoting all the students since it would adversely impact them in the future, further pressurising them. The teachers have been urging the government to reopen schools especially since several other states had reopened, at least partially.
The government had also announced that it would reduce the syllabus by 40 per cent for students who will be attempting their board exams this year, however, the teachers have said that the government had not yet informed them about the specific portions that will be cut from the syllabus.
Tamil Nadu has recorded a steady decline in the number of cases. As of Monday, Tamil Nadu reported 682 new infections and 6 deaths. The total active cases in the state stand at 6971.
