TIRUNELVELI/KANNIYAKUMARI/THOOTHUKUDI: School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi said the state will take steps to reopen the schools that were closed recently owing to poor enrolment. “No government wants to close schools.
In fact, 4 lakh new students have enrolled in government schools this year,” he told media persons in Palayamkottai on Monday, after holding a review meeting with the headteachers of government and aided schools.
On reports of 207 schools being shut, he said the reasons are being studied and efforts are under way to bring students aged above 5 years back into the school system through e-register tracking.
Migration during the pandemic and declining birth rates globally were among the factors affecting enrolment, he said. Sources said the minister had given instructions to headmasters on handling students exhibiting challenging behaviour and caste-based issues on school premises. He also reviewed the State Level Achievement Survey conducted for classes 3, 5, and 8.
At a similar meeting in Kanniyakumari, Poyyamozhi said CM M K Stalin views education and medicine as two eyes. Speaking to reporters in Thoothukudi, he said there is no compromise in the two-language policy followed by the state. Last fiscal, the union government stalled the disbursal of Rs 2,152 crore, he said, adding that it refused to disburse Rs 800 crore under the RTE fund this year.