Stalin will decide on reopening of schools on August 20: Min

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:18.08.2021

Chief minister M K Stalin will take a call on reopening of schools and further relaxations on August 20, school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi told education officials on Tuesday.

The state government already announced that schools for Classes IX to XII will be reopened from September 1.

The government also announced that 50% of students will be asked to attend schools on alternate days. The chief minister will chair a meeting to announce Covid-19 relaxations on August 20. There is a demand from schools to open up for other schools also on a phased manner.

"Bridging learning loss will be a huge challenge when the schools reopen as students come back to schools after a long gap," the minister told the chief educational officers at a meeting in Chennai. The officials also discussed protocols to be evolved when the schools reopened from September1.

"The announcement of transforming education from rote learning to concept based learning was well appreciated. The chief educational officers should concentrate on generating funds for government schools through corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds from industries," the minister said.

He asked the CEOs to take a list of infrastructure needed for government schools in each district. "We are giving basic computer skills training to all teachers to equip them to take online classes for government school students. The hitech labs in government schools also need to be used to enhance the learning of children," he said.

The education officials also discussed developing EMIS (Educational Management Information System) portal, RTE (Right to Education act) admissions among other issues.

The school education department also sought district wise details like distribution of free laptops from 2011-22 to 2019-20 and the laptops kept in the custody of the department and also sought similar details like distribution of atlas, footwear, school bag and other welfare schemes