Schools, colleges not to reopen in Tamil Nadu on November 16

Govt withdraws previous announcement after feedback from parents

A file photograph of a school teacher live-streaming an online class at a government school in Chennai. Photograph used for representational purposes only

The Tamil Nadu government has announced that both colleges and schools for Classes 9 to 12 in the State will not reopen on November 16.

The State government said that after analysing the feedback from parents, they have decided to withdraw the announcement to reopen schools and school hostels for Classes 9 to 12 from November 16 and that a fresh reopening date would be announced after taking the COVID-19 situation into consideration.

On November 9, all schools were directed to hold consultation meetings in which parents and parent-teacher association members were asked to share their views on schools reopening after the initial announcement. In some schools, parents opined that schools should be reopened and in some others, parents had cited safety reasons and had asked for schools not to reopen at the moment, the State government said in its press release.

Similarly, feedback was asked from college and university representatives on their reopening. Taking into consideration the guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC), colleges and universities will reopen for Ph.D students and final year PG students from science and technical courses alone from December 2. For these students alone, hostels will be opened on campus and guidelines for colleges as well as hostels will be separately issued.

For other students, the reopening date will be announced later and the ongoing online classes are expected to continue.

Advisory issued

In view of people thronging shops to buy things and also at bus stands, they have been advised to maintain physical distancing norms and wear a mask at all times. Stating that in some countries, there has been a fresh wave of cases and infections, the State government said that it was important to follow all preventive measures and take precautions.

Keeping this in mind, the government said the permission granted for community, political, entertainment and cultural programmes and celebrations as well as religious congregations with more than 100 members has now been revoked.