Although the Union government had announced that high school students can visit their schools to get their doubts clarified from September 21, the State government has decided that no such visits will be allowed till the month-end.
In an order issued on Saturday, S.R. Umashankar, Principal Secretary of Primary and Secondary Education Department, said there has been a rise in the number of COVID-19 cases. “We have ordered that no visits to schools or PU colleges will be allowed till the end of the month. At the end of the month, we will seek the opinion of the Department of Health and Family Welfare and see if these visits can be allowed from October,” he said.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare issued a standard operating procedure for partial reopening of schools for students from classes nine and 12 on a “voluntary basis” so that they can take guidance from their teachers from September 21. However, most private schools were not keen on this as parents had said they preferred online classes and did not want to put their children’s health at risk. A few schools, however, had told parents that they can book a slot if their children wanted to come to school to get their doubts clarified. They had said that students would be allowed only by prior appointment.
