The schools in Tamil Nadu are ready to reopen the gates for students from Classes 9 to 12 from September 1 for the first time in 18 months. With just two days ahead for a crucial resumption, the Tamil Nadu government has been ensuring that the reopening won't stir any adverse impacts on the students and staff even as it battles the second wave of the pandemic. Along with schools for higher secondary classes, the colleges will also be reopened on September 1. 

In the Standard Operating Procedures, the state government has mandated that the teachers and all other staff members of the schools and colleges must have received two doses of the Covid-19 vaccines before attending the classes. While the vaccination was advocated as the imperative shield to beat the pandemic, there were a lot of concerns among the people of these backgrounds that most of them are yet to take their second dose of the vaccine. It was expressed to the government that the teachers, who haven't taken the second dose, can't attend the schools even after the resumption as per the government norms. 

When the government had ramped up the vaccination drive with the target to vaccinating the teachers within Teachers' Day (September 5), it was surfaced with the demands to permit the teachers and staff members with the first dose of the vaccine. As the reopening had neared, Tamil Nadu Health Minister Ma Subramanian has on Sunday said that the teachers and college professors can return to their work and attend the classes if they had taken their first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. 

While launching a vaccination drive for teachers in the state on Friday, Subramanian has said around 90% of teachers and 89% of non-teaching staff in Tamil Nadu's schools and colleges have received their first dose of vaccination. As the district health officers are prioritizing the vaccines for teachers, college professors, and non-teaching staff, the minister said that the government has directed the principals of all the schools and private colleges to get their teachers and non-teaching staff vaccinated. 

By citing that there are around 122 government, government-aided, and private colleges in Chennai and the heads of these institutions are instructed to vaccinate their staff members. Earlier, the Directorate of Public Health has issued Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the schools and colleges that they need to adhere to after the resumption. As per the SOPs, not more than 20 students should be allowed to sit in a room and the schools and colleges are banned from conducting meetings, assemblies, gatherings, and sporting activities. 

The government has directed the educational institutions to strictly enforce the safety guidelines and they must sanitize the classrooms at regular intervals and must curb the grounds for unnecessary gathering by the students on the premises. Students, teachers, and all staff members must wear a face mask while on the premises and the schools are instructed to conduct the classes on a shift basis if they do not have sufficient infrastructure to accommodate twenty students in a room. The schools can conduct classes in an open area if more students needed to be accommodated.