A day before reopening the educational institutions, the union territory government at Puducherry announced putting the decision under hold without announcing any future dates on Thursday. The newly elected Puducherry chief minister N Rangasamy had earlier announced reopening classes 9, 10, 11, and 12 and all the colleges on Friday.
School Education Minister A Namassivayam announced that the guidelines for running the educational institutions would be issued since the school and colleges are reopening after the second wave of COVID19. The staff reported to duty and the school and college authorities have been preparing the institutions to receive the students on Friday. However, the school education department did not send any such COVID19 guidelines for the schools or colleges till Thursday.
Under these circumstances, the school education minister Namassivayam met the Puducherry lieutenant governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Thursday. Addressing the media persons later, Namassivayam said that they discussed the reopening of the educational institutions. The second wave has not come under control fully and fresh cases are still being reported. They have also considered the appeal from many quarters to postpone the reopening, the minister said.
"After consulting with the lieutenant governor and chief minister, we have decided to postpone the reopening as of now. The educational institutions will not be opened at present. We have not decided on any future date or month as of now. We will take a call on it later", Namachivayam stated. The government has decided to continue the online mode of teaching for now. The university authorities were also directed to inform the colleges about the government's decision.
{{/usCountry}}"After consulting with the lieutenant governor and chief minister, we have decided to postpone the reopening as of now. The educational institutions will not be opened at present. We have not decided on any future date or month as of now. We will take a call on it later", Namachivayam stated. The government has decided to continue the online mode of teaching for now. The university authorities were also directed to inform the colleges about the government's decision.
{{/usCountry}}Earlier, former chief minister Narayanasamy had criticized the new government's decision to reopen the schools pointing out the risk of the third wave still looming large. Appealing to the government to reconsider its decision, he warned that children will be more vulnerable for Delta plus variant according to medical experts and they should not be exposed to such risk.