The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Wednesday closed two petitions pertaining to the reopening of schools in Tamil Nadu. While the first petition sought direction to the State government to continue online classes, the second petition sought direction to revert to online classes.
A Division Bench of Justices Pushpa Sathyanarayana and P. Velmurugan took into account the fact that both the petitions had become infructuous and closed them. Both the petitions were filed by K. Abdul Vahabudeen of Tirunelveli district. All schools in Tamil Nadu reopened in November, the State government submitted.
The petitioner had filed the petitions in August and September respectively. He had apprehended that the in-person classes in schools would increase the number of COVID-19 cases among students and teachers.
At the time of the hearing in August and September, the State government clarified that there was no compulsion on students to attend in-person classes and online classes would continue to be the alternative mode. Experts were consulted before the decision was taken, the State government had submitted.
