Just a day after announcing that kindergarten classes will be discontinued in government schools, the Tamil Nadu government has reversed its decision. Chief Minister MK Stalin has said that LKG and UKG classes will be continued in government schools after requests for the same came pouring in after yesterday's decision. School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi said that the School Education Department has been instructed to appoint qualified lecturers to Lower KG and Upper KG in government schools, according to a report by PTI.
The Tamil Nadu government had cited a shortage of teachers, lack of space in government schools and other reasons for shutting down KG classes. These had been introduced in government schools only in 2019. At the time, 2,500 elementary and middle school teachers were deputed to these classes. Educationists, however, had said that the move to cancel KG in government schools would only cause further problems. "The decision to introduce kindergarten was taken to increase the admission of students in government schools and retain them till higher secondary. But parents would now have to send their children to private institutions. It is a known fact that shifting them back to government schools is a tough task," said P Jayachandran, an educationist.
In Thanjavur, parent-teacher association members staged a protest in front of the Panagal buildings in the district on Tuesday, June 7, regarding the same. After the announcement on Tuesday, June 7, the classes were shifted to the Anganwadis attached to about 2,381 government primary and middle schools on a pilot project basis, said Poyyamozhi.
He cited a low intake of students in schools during the AIADMK regime as the reason for teachers being shifted to handling LKG and UKG sections, which had more students. In a statement, Poyyamozhi said that the ruling DMK government had improved the quality of schools and, therefore, about seven lakh students enrolled in higher classes in government schools just last year. This had demanded the addition of 3,000 sections, the minister added, due to which teachers of LKG and UKG were transferred to handle Classes I to V.
This had concluded in the decision earlier this week to shut kindergarten sections altogether in government schools. However, protests from various quarters had the government reconsider its decision. "Qualified teachers will be posted in adequate numbers to handle the classes," assured Poyyamozhi.
