Tamil Nadu educated beyond classroom seating concept

Within hours of Tamil Nadu's Director of School Education releasing a circular that ordered that seating in classrooms can take the shape of a semi-circle, similar to the Tamil letter Pa ( ), the directive was suspended after it caused a tidal wave of criticism, particularly on social media, by educationists, health professionals, and political parties.

 

The seating arrangement was intended to eliminate the stigma of ‘backbenchers’ and promote equality among students.

 

The circular issued by S Kannappan, Director of School Education, stated, "Engagement begins with arrangement, the 'Pa' shape opens the floor for open minds." It stated the arrangement would improve interaction, provide all students with a clear vision of blackboard and teacher, and enable teachers to observe all the students effectively, apart from ensuring students' comfort.

 

But the plan sent shockwaves immediately regarding its feasibility and impact on health with most wondering if there were any consultations with the stakeholders involved before the issuance of the guidelines.

 

New arrangement may impact children's health

 

"Students on the sides will have to rotate their necks for hours, five days a week. It can cause 50% of students to suffer from serious neck-related problems, and 15% could have very serious problems," a neurosurgeon wrote on X.

 

He also alerted us to visual stress, particularly for glasses-wearing students who would be asked to peer through the periphery of their lenses instead of the optic center, resulting in additional eye strain and headaches. The Director of School Education circular had instructed all Chief Educational Officers in all the districts to provide the new seating configuration in all the classrooms, considering the student strength and class sizes.

 

While the new arrangement was to be put in place based on the size of each class according to the circular, most noted that government schools and government-aided schools have longer rooms, as opposed to broad rooms that would be required to support seating structures in 'Pa' shape. Furthermore, a class with a large number of students will experience hardship even with the new arrangement.

 

The idea of the move was inspired after a few schools in Kerala voluntarily followed such seating patterns on their own, following the Malayalam film Sthanarthi Sreekuttan.

 

Responding to the move, AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami criticized the state government for pinching ideas from movies without any scientific study. "Stop playing with students' health for publicity," he tweeted on X. BJP state secretary SG Suryah also criticized the move. The director told TNIE that the circular has been suspended. "Following health issues raised, we are debating whether to apply it or not. A decision will be made after thorough discussions next week," he added.