Chennai:  Matriculation schools were warned by the state government, that stern action would be taken against them for going on strike on October 9.

School education minister Thangam Thennarasu said that it was not fair for the schools to close down in protest against implementation of uniform syllabi. 'The state government already conducted several rounds of public consultation before implementing the uniform syllabi. In fact, we had some representative of matriculation schools as members in the public consultation committee headed by Prof S. Muthukumaran that submitted its report to the state government last year,' he said, adding that the government had taken enough steps to protect the interests of matriculation schools.

Pointing out that strike was not a solution to the problem, Mr Thennarasu said that all issues could be sorted through dialogue. 'This government had been implementing various welfare schemes in consultation with the stake holders and resorting to protest is unfair,' he said.

President of principals' of matriculation schools’ association Dr N. Vijayan said that there were over 3,200 matriculation schools affiliated to their association. 'We welcome the government’s move in bringing in uniform syllabi but we need some modifications closing down schools will not help us achieve our goal, so we will not take part in the protest,' he said.