The schools in Tamil Nadu are back to business after the government had consented to their resumption from November 1. The schools across the state were reopened on Monday for Classes 1 to 8 and the students are back to their pre-Covid world classrooms after 19 months. The resumption has become crucial for the state to return to normalcy amid battling the Covid-19 pandemic. Classes 1 to 8 were reopened two months after the resumption of classes 9 to 12. 

Primary and elementary school students have been studying online since March 2020 and they have now resumed their studies physically from their classroom. The schools across the state were decorated to welcome back the students in the midst of the apprehension of the parents over the virus spread among the younger generation. As the Covid-19 vaccination hasn't yet started for the students of these classes, the government had issued guidelines to the faculty and the schools on accommodating the students in a friendly atmosphere.

The school education department had rolled out several directives to the stakeholders at a high time when the state is heading towards the festive season. As the students are coming to the schools after 19 months, the government has planned to offer great reception to them by distributing sweets and flowers to give them a comfortable transition from the new normal to the pre-Covid world. It has been reported that 34 lakh students of these grades in the state would be returning to the schools after 19 months. 

With the current resumption, all one crore students from Class 1 to 12 are now back to school and Tamil Nadu has become one of the major Indian states to reopen the schools completely. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin had instructed the ministers, MPs, and MLAs to welcome the students to the school and Chief Minister himself had become the pioneer of welcoming the students to the school. MK Stalin had distributed books for the students in a Chennai school after the resumption. 

With the view of reducing the burden of transition and settling the students back to the classroom ecosystem, the elementary education department has asked the schools to conduct storytelling, drawing, and other creative sessions for the first two weeks and the schools have come up with a plan of splitting the total strength of the students into two and conduct physical classes on alternate days. In some areas, the students were welcomed with balloons, sweets, chocolates, biscuits, and pencil pouches.

Setting a new pattern in schooling, the schools in Tamil Nadu are opting to go for alternate-days teaching to accommodate more students, unlike how pupils rubbed their shoulders in the classroom. The schools are ensuring that the students have a spacious environment and find grounds for social distancing. A government school in Chennai had reopened the classes for the students of classes 3, 4, 5, and 7 on Monday and the rest of the classes will be reopened on Tuesday to contain the over-crowding. The government had advised the staff members to get vaccinated fully and to adhere to the Covid-19 guidelines. 

While most of the students had received the first-of-its-kind welcome from the ministers, legislators, and teachers, a section of students in the state was welcomed by heavy downpours due to which the schools were shut. Several districts of Tamil Nadu had recorded heavy rains on Sunday and the rainfall has been incessant on Monday and the schools were shut in the districts of Cuddalore, Villupuram, Tirunelveli, Vellore, and Kallakurichi. The schools in these districts will be opened after the mitigation of the rains. 

As a precautionary measure, the state government had permitted the schools to accommodate only 20 students per classroom and it has been expected that the schools will record their full strength after the Diwali holidays. Though the schools were resumed, the new normal is still in place as the education department has announced that virtual learning will also continue and the students can learn through Kalvi TV and other methods. Along with the state government and private schools, CBSE schools had also reopened the classes as the students say a big hello to their classroom and blackboard. 

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin distributes books among students in Chennai as schools reopen for classes 1st to 8th from today. pic.twitter.com/WV48yESOAN

— ANI (@ANI) November 1, 2021