As the Tamil Nadu state government has signaled that its nowhere near to resume the schools and academic institutions in this academic year in the wake of the Coronavirus outbreak, the students are getting settled for the new normal of studying through online classes and while the students of the private institutions have been learning through the virtual classes, the government has now announced similar methodology of teaching to the students of the state-run schools.

On Wednesday, Tamil Nadu School Education Minister KA Sengottaiyan said that the government school students in the state will be learning their studies through television channels from July 13. While addressing the reporters in Erode after inaugurating the classrooms in his assembly constituency, the minister further stated that five channels in the state will be broadcasting the subjects to the government school students.

The minister added that the channels like state-run Kalvi Tholaikkatchi, Polimer TV, DD Pothigai, Puthiya Thalaimurai, and Thanthi TV will be broadcasting the lessons for the students from class 1 to 12 and the students will be provided with the textbooks before the commencement of the television classes.

According to the reports, the lessons for the students from Class 1 to 5 will be broadcasted in Kalvi Tholaikkatchi and in the private channels while the lessons for the classes 6 to 10 will be broadcasted on Kalvi Tholaikkatachi from 8.30 am to 5 pm whereas, for classes 11 and 12, the respective schools will upload the video lessons to the students' laptops.

The school education department has been prepared with the content for the lessons and the everyday lessons will be published on Youtube and other e-learning platforms on the same day to the access of the students. The students of the primary classes will be having less duration of classes compared to the students of the higher classes.

Commenting on the publication of the results of class 10 students, the minister said that the department has been collecting details about the students who didn't appear for the quarterly and halfyearly exams and the results will be announced after discussing with the Chief Minister. 

As the government prepares for the never-done experiment of teaching the government school students through television, the educational activists demand the government to ensure that it reaches every student in every corner of the state as there are students living in the remote villages and hill stations where they would limited access for the television and internet.

By citing that this move would help keep the students study their lessons, the educationalists say that the television classes should be a voluntary activity and it should not force the students to attend the classes and stated that the government should make 'Kalvi Tholaikkatchi' available to the DTH service providers which would reach the doors of every student. Currently, the state-run channel is available for cable TV users. 

The development has come as the sequel of the closure of the schools, training, and educational institutions in the state which have been under shut down since March 25 owing to the rapid spread of the Coronavirus pandemic. In the wake of the spread, the state government has canceled the board exams for tenth-grade students and they will be promoted to the next level based on their quarterly and half-yearly marks.