Tamil Nadu: Schools and colleges resume physical classes with SOPs
What's the story
Offline teaching for Class IX to Class XII in Tamil Nadu resumed on Wednesday, with strict COVID-19 protocol in place, while physical classes in colleges also commenced in the state. Students, after a gap of five months, returned to their respective institutions and were allowed entry upon thermal screening and provision of hand sanitizers while the face-mask rule has been made mandatory, officials said.
Background
Schools for senior classes had been closed since March
Notably, on March 20, in the backdrop of surging COVID-19 cases in the state, the government had ordered the closure of schools for Classes IX, X, and XI from March 22 until further orders. However, it was then announced that they would continue to function for the Class XII students as they had to take up the board examination.
Information
State government had issued SOPs last week
Meanwhile, the state government, which had earlier announced the resumption of schools from today, had last week issued Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to be strictly adhered to when the classes commence from Wednesday.
SOP
Here is what the SOP says
The SOP includes the presence of 50% of students at a time. "The government had mandated that schools should function six days a week and classes and sections have to be split into batches of not more than 20 students per classroom," according to the SOP. Notably, the SOP is being implemented in educational institutions across the state.
Quote
Students may be permitted to attend online classes: Government
"Online learning will continue to be an alternate mode of teaching and students may be permitted to attend online classes if they prefer and those willing to study from home with the consent of the parents may be allowed to do so," the government said.
Further details
Social distancing norms should be strictly followed: Government
"School premises should be kept clean and tidy and social distancing norms should be strictly followed to avoid crowding at the entrance, exit, and inside the school," the government said while allowing resumption of physical classes for students of classes IX to XII. Similarly, colleges also commenced physical classes on a rotational basis for students studying in their respective years.