The School Education Department has announced that kindergarten classes will continue to function in government schools.
The decision follows concerns raised by several educationists regarding children’s education in the formative years.
Earlier, the department had shut down the classes citing shortage of teachers.
Kindergarten classes began to be offered in 2,381 government schools in 2019 on an experimental basis.
However, in the last two academic years, owing to the financial crunch caused by COVID-19, many students in primary sections had shifted from private schools to government schools and the department transferred excess teachers in KG sections to higher classes.
School Education Minister Anbil Poyyamozhi said in a statement that during the previous government’s rule there was not much demand for government schools. However, in the last year, following the State government’s efforts to improve the quality of government schools, around seven lakh students were additionally admitted in various classes. The government responded by increasing infrastructure by adding 3,000 more sections.
This also increased the need for teachers and recently many were transferred to teach classes 1 to 5, he said in a statement on Thursday.
The department was taking all steps to ensure that children received education in the anganwadis without a hitch, he said.
Qualified teachers would be appointed for kindergarten sections soon, he added.
