Chennai, June 2 (PTI) Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Monday launched the distribution of textbooks, notebooks, uniforms, and stationery for students of government and aided schools for the 2025-26 academic year.

Schools reopened today after a long summer vacation. The school education department has made it mandatory for educational institutions to conduct ethics classes based on Thirukkural, a treatise in Tamil authored by savant Thiruvalluvar, once a week for government students from classes VI to XII.

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About 4.3 crore textbooks worth Rs 311 crore, 1.3 crore uniforms valued at Rs 457 crore, about 9.6 crore notebooks for Rs 162 crore and other materials costing Rs 211 would be distributed to the students, an official release here said.

Stalin briefly interacted with the students after launching the distribution at the Lady Willington Government Model Girls' Higher Secondary School, Triplicane, here.

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State Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department Minister P K Sekarbabu, School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, Chennai Mayor R Priya, Chairman of Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation Dindigul I Leoni, and government officials participated.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)