CHENNAI: The Tamil Nadu School Education Department has newly opened 13 new elementary schools across Tamil Nadu and upgraded four existing primary schools into middle schools.

In order to ensure access to elementary education for all children, new elementary schools had been started predominantly in remote rural areas, hilly regions, and in newly inhabited localities across Tamil Nadu.

For this, the department will be creating necessary teaching posts such as school heads, Secondary Grade Teachers (SGTs), and postgraduate teachers. Further, elementary school head posts will also be upgraded to middle school head posts. A fund of Rs 10 crore has been earmarked for this initiative.

The newly opened schools are in Tiruvannamalai, Vellore, Krishnagiri, Tirupattur, Madurai, Virudhunagar, Namakkal and Kancheepuram. It’s noteworthy that the department in August had also upgraded 20 government high schools to higher secondary schools in TN, including Mathur government high school under Madhavaram block in Chennai.

On the other hand, the Department of Elementary Education (DEE) this year had temporarily closed down 208 State-run schools in TN. Overall 1,204 schools in TN did not receive any new admissions this year. Of this, there were 208 government primary and middle schools, 114 government aided schools, 11 partially-funded schools, 869 private schools and 2 union government schools.

Meanwhile, Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi ordered the promotion and transfer of 26 Chief Education Officers (CEOs) across various departments. The announcement was made here on Tuesday as per the previous declaration he had made during the demand for grants – 2025–26.