TN:Schools to remain shut, Varsities to reopen for reserchers

Tamil Nadu government on Thursday reversed its move to reopen schools from November 16 for classes 9-12 and said they shall continue to remain closed. While colleges were also earlier scheduled to function from November 16 , the government said colleges and varsities shall reopen from December 2 only for research scholars and final year postgraduate students of science and technology streams. “The opening of colleges for all other courses will be announced later,” the government said in an official release adding hostels would be opened only for those students who shall resume studies from next month.

The state government had taken views of parents and the opinion was divided.  DMK president M K Stalin  had also hit out at the government for its “hasty” announcement. The leader of the opposition had said that a decision on reopening schools should be taken only in January 2021 after analysing the pandemic scenario. As on November 11, a total of 7,50,409 people had tested positive for Covid-19 in Tamil Nadu out of which 7,20,339 recovered. While 18,655 was the number of active cases, the death toll stood at 11,415.