In a surprising development, the Tamil Nadu government on Thursday (November 12) announced that it has decided to put on hold its decision to reopen schools for classes 9-12 from November 16. It may be recalled that two weeks ago, Tamil Nadu government had announced to reopen classes for 9 to 12 with coronavirus safety norms.
Notably, schools have been closed in Tamil Nadu since March due to coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent lockdown imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to curb the spread of the deadly virus in the country.
The Tamil Nadu government said that colleges and universities will reopen only for research scholars and final year postgraduate students of science and technology streams from December 2. Interestingly, these institutes were also scheduled to reopen on November 16.
The government said the decision to hold off the reopening of schools was taken after consultations with parents and teachers on Monday. According to the government, some parents wanted the schools to reopen, but others were against such a move because of the Covid crisis.
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It is to be noted that Tamil Nadu has over 7.5 lakh coronavirus cases, including 11,415 deaths. Tamil Nadu is has the fourth-highest caseload in India and it registered 2,184 new COVID-19 cases and 28 deaths on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, DMK chief MK Stalin has slammed Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami for his "hasty" announcement saying that a decision on reopening schools should not be taken before January 2021. Stalin added that the government should not reopen the schools before analysing the situation.
