Schools reopen after long summer vacation, report good attendance on Day 1

Schools in the city reopen for the academic year 2024-25 with good attendance, students eager to start the year.

After a nearly two-month long summer vacation, schools in the city reopened for the academic year 2024-25 on Thursday. Most of the schools saw good attendance on the first day, with the weather too remaining favourable as compared to earlier days.

Neatly turned out in their uniforms, lugging their school bags and lunch boxes, students made a beeline for their schools in the morning. Many parents took their children to nearby temples to offer prayers seeking a fruitful academic year before dropping them off at school.

The streets, which wore a lazy, unhurried look in the mornings for the past couple of months, were back to their bustling, busy self as school buses and auto-rickshaws packed with schoolchildren flitted across the city. The morning air echoed with the sound of impatient honks outside apartments and residences as the children took their time readjusting to the rigours of school days.

School managements welcomed their students by decorating classrooms with artwork and banners.

District Education Officer L. Chandrakala said that attendance was good on the first day and will improve further from Friday. She said that students of government schools will be provided textbooks and notebooks once they arrive at school. The school kits, including shoes, school bag, belt and uniforms, have arrived and will be distributed among the students in the coming days, she said.

Meanwhile, teams from the Road Transport Department, led by Deputy Transport Commissioner G.C. Raja Ratnam, conducted a special drive to check school buses running without fitness certificates. The teams booked seven cases against school buses for ferrying students without obtaining a fitness certificate. A school bus was also seized by the officials.

District Collector A. Mallikarjuna held a review meeting with officials over the functioning of the Social and BC Welfare Hostels in the district, at the Collectorate on Thursday. He asked wardens to ensure a relaxed atmosphere at the hostels. He said that students must be asked to do exercise and yoga in the morning, and must be encouraged to cultivate a habit of reading newspapers, eating a healthy diet, taking up a sport, and so on.