Chennai: Parents and students are waiting for an announcement from Tamilnadu government on whether the schools and colleges would be reopened on 16 November or not.
According to sources, the government is likely to further delay the reopening of educational institutions, considering the Covid-19 situation, inputs from parents and activists and directions from the court.
School Education Minister K A Sengottaiyan had said that around 45 per cent of parents of school students gave their feedback on whether schools should be reopened for classes 9 to 12, and Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami will announce the State’s decision on the issue on 12 November.
The feedback submitted by parents at State-wide consultative meetings on Monday ranged from urging the schools to reopen as some feared their children might permanently drop out of education, to some of them telling the State government to compensate them with Rs 5 crore in the extreme case of their wards’ death due to Covid, post reopening.
Parents who were for the reopening of schools attributed their decision, among other things, to the fact that students taking the board exams needed some form of face-to-face interaction with their teachers.
Those who opposed reopening of schools said they were not ready to take any chance when it comes to the health of their wards in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.