Tamil Nadu govt taking steps to open schools for kindergarten this December

Until now, the schools were opened for students studying Class one to Class 12 by following all the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) given by the govt. However, the schools for kindergarten were not yet opened following through a piece of advice from an official expert panel comprised of authorities from the Health Department.

A senior official from the School Education Department told DT NEXT on Tuesday that on the requests from the teachers, academicians, and parents, from a series of review meetings held, the schools for kids studying in both LKG and UKG should be opened.

"During the meeting, all the pros and cons were discussed with regard to the safety of the kindergarten kids if the schools were opened for them", an official said and added, "as the health officials ruling out the third wave of COVID-19, the members have suggested that the schools for these children could be opened from December this year".

The official also pointed out that the minutes of the review meeting with regard to the opening of schools for LKG and UKG has been sent to the Chief Minister's office for its official approval. "All the district education officials were instructed to further inspect all the schools, which have kindergarten classes, on the possibilities of conducting physical sessions", the official said.

Indicating presently that there were about 35,000 primary schools including self-financing institutions were functioning across Tamil Nadu, he said "the government would also release fresh SOPs as it was issued to reopen schools for the students studying from Class one to Class 8 from November 1".

The official said the decision to reopen schools for kindergarten kids will also depend on the behavior of the northeast monsoon in the coming weeks. "We are also discussing with the officials from the meteorological department to seek detail information on the weather reports", he said.

The Tamil Nadu Teachers Association president P K Ilamaran also stated that his forum had already given representation to the government for opening schools for LKG and UKG as the kids in those standards still do not have alphabetical knowledge.