Bus services from Jolarpet resume after reopening of schools, colleges
The Hindu
The town is a key railway hub in Tirupattur district
Bus services from Jolarpet, which were earlier suspended due to COVID-19, resumed on Sunday. As a first step, bus services between Jolarpet and Bargur, covering a distance of around 30 km, were operated by the Villupuram division of the Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation. This would largely benefit farmers from villages like Puthu Koil, Natrampalli and Vellakalnatham. Bus services from Jolarpet, a key railway hub in Tirupattur district connecting tourists from Bengaluru and Chennai to Yelagiri Hills, was resumed mainly to benefit students, as schools and colleges were reopened after a steady decline in COVID-19 cases in the State.Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.