No shift-based classes when schools reopen: Tamil Nadu Education Minister

The Tamil Nadu government ruled out shift-based classes when schools reopen across the state and said all the classes would start functioning simultaneously. Hinting that there will not be any phased reopening, state education minister K A Sengottaiyan said schools across Tamil Nadu will open simultaneously once the pandemic situation is brought under control.

"All classes will start functioning simultaneously when schools reopen in the state. There will not be classes in shift, as all the schools have adequate infrastructure," he told reporters here on Saturday. The schools are equipped with sufficient numbers of classrooms to ensure the social distancing norms, he said.

Schools and colleges in Tamil Nadu have been closed since March when lockdown was announced to contain the spread of Coronavirus. Owing to the extended lockdown, the Tamil Nadu government had launched classes through its Education Television channel while several private and aided schools switched to online mode of teaching.

Taking into account the practical difficulties in conducting classes during the pandemic times and also to reduce the burden of children, the government had reduced the school syllabus for the academic year 2020-2021 by about 40 per cent, as per the recommendation of the expert committee, the minister had said on Friday. Sengottaiyan said the state government had formed another committee under Commissioner of School Education Sigy Thomas Vaidhyan to evaluate and recommend the way forward for school education with the implementation of the New Education Policy (NEP) 2020.