Thiruvananthapuram: The General Education Department is preparing for the reopening of the schools for the commencement of the 2023-24 academic year. A meeting of teachers’ organisations convened by Education Minister V Sivankutty ahead of the reopening decided not to force students to attend programmes which are not organised by the General Education Department.

Prior permission would be needed from the Education Department to take students to events under other departments. The schools will reopen for the coming academic year on June 1.

Other decisions

All schools have been instructed to conduct vacation get-togethers for parents. Anti-drugs campaign and the ‘Haritha Vidyalayam Suchitwa Vidyalayam’ (Green school, Clean school) initiative too will be implemented.

Sivankutty also said that district and state-level meetings of Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) presidents will be held soon to discuss the midday meal scheme. The district-level meetings are scheduled during May 5-15, he added.

In yet another directive, the Minister asked teachers to visit houses to invite more students to public schools.

Meanwhile, representatives of teachers’ organisations demanded that the 67 permanent higher secondary teachers who had lost jobs should be reappointed without service break and the final report of the Khader Committee appointed to suggest reforms in the school education system in Kerala should be published.