School Education Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan on Wednesday said that in view of the COVID-19 pandemic, 50% of the prescribed syllabus will be taught for students up to class 9, while 65% syllabus will be taught for students from classes 10 to 12 this academic year.
Addressing the media at the Erode Collectorate after distributing a cash incentive of ₹35.50 lakh to 23 students who won medals at the 64th national school games, the Minister said that the syllabus were reduced after getting an approval from Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami.
“Since students from classes 10 to 12 have to compete with students from other States, 65% syllabus will be taught for them,” he added. He reiterated that half-yearly exams for students of government and government-aided schools were postponed while private schools can conduct exams online, if needed.
To a question on the possibility of reopening of schools in January 2021, the Minister said that any decision regarding this would be taken by the Chief Minister after holding discussions with educationists, parents and students.
Asked about government schools lacking toilet facilities, the Minister said that all the schools have toilets, but only additional toilets were needed based on the student strength. When schools were constructed in rural areas earlier, toilets were constructed away from the premises. “In the past 10 years, all the school buildings were constructed with toilet facilities,” he added.
Reservation for sportspersons hiked
Mr. Sengottaiyan, who also holds the Sports Development portfolio, said the State government had hiked the reservation for sportspersons in government jobs to 3% and also had also created facilities in local bodies for ₹67 crore, to encourage sports from childhood onwards.
The Sports Development Authority of Tamil Nadu had sanctioned a high cash incentive of ₹9.25 crore to sportspersons who won medals at the national school games, he said.
