The School Education Department has reversed its plans to close down eight schools in the district, following pressure from local residents and the Nilgiris Lok Sabha MP, A. Raja, who submitted a petition to the Collector on Monday, calling for the schools to remain open.
A. Nasarudeen, Chief Education Officer, Nilgiris district, said that the department had never originally planned to close any of the eight nursery and high schools. “The schools were to be temporarily closed, as there were no students enrolling for classes,” said Mr. Nasarudeen, who added that it was decided that all the schools will remain open.
Training concludes
Meanwhile, the three-day district-level training programme for teachers handling LKG and UKG concluded in Udhagamandalam and Gudalur on Friday.
The programme was designed to train teachers to handle classes for children between the ages of 3 and 5.
Previously, children from these age groups were taught by anganwadi workers. However, starting from this year, 34 of these anganwadi centres will be merged with regular schools across the district. Of the 34, eight are in Udhagamandalam, seven in Coonoor, three in Kotagiri and sixteen in Gudalur, officials from the School Education department said.
The programme was inaugurated by Mr. Nasarudeen on Wednesday. Assistant Project Officer of Samagra Shiksha, R. Kumar, was also present during the training.