Within hours of Tamil Nadu's Director of School Education issuing a circular directing seating in classrooms to be in the shape of a semi-circle, similar to the Tamil letter Pa ( ), the directive was suspended because it was showered with criticism, particularly on social media, by educationists, health specialists, and political persons.
The seating was designed to remove and prevent the stigma of 'backbenchers' and ensure equality among students.
The circular released by S Kannappan, the Director of School Education, stated, "Engagement begins with arrangement, the 'Pa' shape opens the floor for open minds." It stated the arrangement would increase interaction, make all the students have a clear view of the blackboard and teacher, and enable teachers to observe all the students properly, along with ensuring students' comfort.
But the proposal ignited instant controversy regarding its feasibility and health impact with many wondering if any consultations were undertaken with affected stakeholders prior to publishing the guidelines.
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"Students on the sides will be having to rotate their necks for hours, five days a week. This will cause 50 per cent of the students to have serious neck-related problems, and 15 per cent can have very serious problems," a neurosurgeon shared on X.
He also cautioned against visual stress, particularly on students with spectacles, since they would have to peep through the periphery of their lenses instead of the centre of their optics, leading to more eye strain and headaches. The letter sent by the Director of School Education had instructed all Chief Educational Officers in each district to make arrangements for the new seating plan in each class, considering the number of children and the capacity of the class.
Though the seating arrangement was to be done based on the size of each class according to the circular, most noted that government and aided government schools are larger in size compared to the wider classrooms required for square-shaped seating arrangements in 'Pa' shape. In addition, classes with more students will also suffer despite the new arrangement.
The idea was inspired after some schools in Kerala adopted similar seating arrangements voluntarily, following the Malayalam movie Sthanarthi Sreekuttan.
Responding to the proposal, AIADMK (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami criticised the state government for imitating ideas from movies without proper research. He took to platform X, saying, "Do not play with students' health for publicity." Bharatiya Janata Party state secretary SG Suryah too criticised the move. He added: "We are having discussions on whether or not to adopt it. A decision will be made after by next week."
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