Barely an hour after categorically stating that schools in Tamil Nadu shall not conduct online classes, state school education minister KA Sengottaiyan announced the opposite. The minister has reportedly clarified that schools can conduct online classes for students, provided teachers are not made to come to schools to conduct such classes.
KA Sengottaiyan had, earlier on Wednesday, told the reporters that the Director of School Education had sent a circular, warning schools of strict action if they commence online classes for students. “If any school is found violating this, strict action will be taken against it. Similarly, if it comes to our attention that schools are compelling parents to pay fees, immediate action will be taken,” he had said.
However, within minutes from making this statement, the minister called the media houses and issued a clarification stating that the prohibition is not for online classes per se, but for making teachers come to school to conduct such online classes.
Tamil Nadu had ordered all schools to shut down before the nationwide lockdown was imposed, as a precautionary measure against the spread of COVID-19. Since classes were suspended, the state government also announced that all students from classes 1 to 9 will be promoted to the next class. The state government also postponed the public exams for Class 10 students which were originally scheduled to begin on March 27.
The government had, on April 20, ordered that the schools shall not compel the parents to pay pending dues of the fees or collect the fees for the upcoming academic year while the lockdown is in force. The order had stated that the schools shall not impose penalties in case of delay in the payment of fees by the parents.
However, many private schools in the state have been sending reminder messages to the parents, urging them to pay the fees and announcing that schools will commence classes from the first week of June through online mode of teaching.