Coimbatore: School teachers seek work from home till March 31

COIMBATORE: With the ministry of human resource development directing all higher education institutions to ask their faculty members, teachers, researchers and non-teaching staff members to work from home till March 31 in view of Covid-19 pandemic, schoolteachers from the state have sought that the Tamil Nadu government too allows them to work from home till this month-end.
With Class X exams, which were slated to be held on March 27, being postponed, teachers said there was no point in them visiting schools to do preparatory work for the next academic year and creating online learning material amid the virus scare.
They said except those who were on exam duty, all other teachers should be asked to work from home. All schools, except those which are examination centres for the ongoing Class XI and XII exams, be locked down till March 31.
State secretary of Tamil Nadu Post Graduate Teachers’ Association (TNPGTA) VM Michaelraj said elementary schools, said, “Elementary schoolteachers and other teachers who have been asked to carry out preparations for the next academic year can be asked to work from home. This would prevent the possibility of teachers getting infected and thereby subsequent community spreading of the disease.”
President of Tamil Nadu Government Employees Teachers Association S Arunan said the state government should follow MHRD’s move and allow school and college teachers and other staff members to work from home till March 31 as a precautionary measure.
The Tamil Nadu High and Higher Secondary School Graduate Teachers’ Association too urged the state allow schoolteachers to work from home till March 31. In a communication, the association said around 3.25 lakh teachers were being made to visit schools, which were declared leave till March 31. "Just like how the Union ministry of human resource development has asked personnel working in its institutions to work from home till 31st, we want the state to order schoolteachers to work from home in the interest of students and public."