TN govt forms committee to address issues in education during COVID-19

The government of Tamil Nadu has constituted an expert committee under the auspices of the department of school education to advise the government on ‘academic and teaching issues arising due to COVID-19’. 

According to an order dated May 12, the committee would comprise of members from Samagra Shiksha, State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT), Directors of School education, elementary education, matriculation schools, government examinations, representatives from Kalvi TV (Tamil Nadu’s government TV channel that provides education-related content for students), Parent Teachers’ Association (PTA), UNICEF, Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency and IIT-Madras (Centre for Technology and Policy). 

The government order also specifies the responsibilities of the said committee like advising the government on academic and teaching issues that have come up due to the early closure of schools due to COVID-19 pandemic and the delay in starting the next academic year and how to make good the loss of time due to this delay. The committee is also tasked with the duty to identify the gaps in teaching and learning processes due to the early closure and possible delay in reopening of schools and bringing out an action plan to involve technology to ensure that the learning process of the children is not interrupted. The committee has also been ordered to submit a report to the state government with its findings and recommendations within 15 days. 

The government of Tamil Nadu had ordered that all the educational institutions in the state will be shut down from March 16 as a precautionary measure against the COVID-19 pandemic. Following the closure of schools, the annual examinations, board examinations etc were postponed and a few examinations were cancelled by the schools thus awarding automatic promotions to the students. 

The School Education Department recently announced that Class 10 board exams, which were cancelled due to coronavirus, will be conducted from June 1 to June 12.