Schools for classes 9 to 12, colleges and polytechnics will reopen in Tamil Nadu as planned from September 1, while beaches will be closed to the public on Sundays and no public display of religious festivities, including for Vinayagar Chathurthi, will be allowed, the State government announced on Monday.
Ahead of the reopening of schools and colleges, Chief Minister M.K. Stalin held a meeting with top officials of the government to take stock of the Covid-19 situation in the State. The government has also mandated that with the prevailing Covid-19 situation in Kerala, college students coming from the neighbouring State must be vaccinated and produce an RT-PCR test certificate.
Hostels for school and college students, working men, women’s hostels for the staff, will be allowed to function following necessary Covid-19 protocols. Staff at these hostels must be vaccinated and it is incumbent upon the school and college management to ensure that.
Mr. Stalin requested parents and teachers at the schools and colleges to ensure that students wear masks, maintain physical distancing, and follow the Covid-19 guidelines as the educational institutions have been allowed to reopen in the interest of the students’ education and mental well-being.
Taking cognisance of the massive crowds seen at the beaches last weekend, the government announced that beaches will be closed to the public on all Sundays from September 5.
All places of religious worship will continue to be closed to the public from Fridays to Sundays as announced earlier and the ban on public celebration of religious festivals will continue.
The government further announced a ban on public celebration of Vinayagar Chathurthi. It banned installation of Vinayagar idols in public places, undertaking processions and immersion of the idols in beaches and water bodies.
The government requested people to celebrate the festival in their homes. Individuals alone would be allowed to go and immerse the idols at the nearby water bodies. Organisations are banned from immersing the idols. As far as Chennai was concerned, the government banned the immersion of idols in beaches, including the stretch between Napier Bridge and Santhome.
Also, individuals celebrating the festival at their homes will be allowed to place the idols outside temples or in the surrounding area of the temple. The HR & CE department will take steps to remove these idols from these places later.
The government also announced a ban on congregation of public in Chennai, Velankani, Nagapattinam district and other places for the celebrations of the feast of Mother Mary.
