Thiruvananthapuram: Education Minister V Sivankutty said about 5,000 teachers in the state have not yet been vaccinated despite reports of a new variant of covid in many countries. It has been noticed that some teachers come to school without taking the vaccine. This cannot be justified. He said the matter would be brought to the notice of the Health and Disaster Management Departments.

Although the schools in the state are operating according to the exact Covid standards, there are still about 5,000 teachers to be vaccinated. This is despite the fact that Omicron, the new variant of covid, is being confirmed in various countries. Most of the teachers are cooperating with the government’s vaccine policy. However, Education Minister V Sivankutty said that some teachers were coming to the school without taking the vaccine. The safety of students is important to the government. He added that there was no accurate count of teachers who were not vaccinated.

In the first phase, the government took sympathetic action against those who did not get the vaccine. However, teachers who have not yet been vaccinated will be brought to the attention of the Department of Health and the Department of Disaster Management.

Thiruvananthapuram: Local Self-Government and Excise Minister MV Govindan Master said that in order to register marriages in the state, there is no need for a document proving the religion of the married couple or a document stating that the marriage took place according to their religion.

The Marriage Registration Act of 2008 stipulates that all marriages must be registered regardless of party affiliation. However, in 2015, the law was amended. The minister clarified that the complaints were raised after that.

The validity of marriages is determined not only by the religion of the persons being married. There is no need to record the religion of the parties or the manner in which the marriage took place in one of the forms provided by the parties for marriage registration. At present, in many places, registrars determine their religion from documents such as school certificates submitted to prove their date of birth. If such information is not available, it is customary to seek additional information. He said the circular was issued to put an end to such approaches and was part of the state government’s commitment to nurture Renaissance values in the society.

Sultan Bathery: A tribal youth Deepu, who was arrested by the Sultan Bathery police on charges of car theft in Wayanad, has been granted bail. Bail was granted by the Sultan Bathery Judicial First Class Magistrate Court.

The arrest of Deepu, who did not know how to drive, in a car theft case was controversial. Deepu was also granted bail in cases registered by the Meenangadi police.

Palakkad: Three wild elephants died after a train hit in Valayar, Palakkad. The accident happened around 9 pm. The train hit a herd of elephants crossing the track. Senior officials of the Forest Department and Railways reached the spot. Train services on the Palakkad-Coimbatore route have been disrupted for a long time.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Central Meteorological Department has today issued a yellow alert in 12 districts for heavy rains in the state. Educational Institutions including Professional Colleges in Thiruvananthapuram District will be closed today.

Cyclone in the south-western Bay of Bengal is expected to make landfall off the coast of Sri Lanka on Monday. It will continue to rain across the state till Monday. Extreme levels of rainfall are expected in the state today. A yellow alert has been issued in 12 districts from Thiruvananthapuram to Wayanad  Fishing in the Bay of Bengal has been banned due to strong winds of 40 to 50 kmph.

The District Collector has announced a holiday for all educational institutions, including professional colleges, in the Thiruvananthapuram district, due to warnings of heavy rains.

Thiruvananthapuram: An agreement was reached at the high-level meeting of the education department to increase the school hours in the state from morning to evening. The final decision on the matter will be taken by the Chief Minister. The decision came after teachers warned that lessons would not be taught in shifts.

Today’s review meeting discussed this. In addition, a high-level meeting of the education department decided to extend school hours from morning to evening as there is a general assessment that the Covid situation in the state has improved.

Guruvayoor: The Devaswom Board of Trustees has decided to allow 10,000 devotees to visit the Guruvayur Temple every day. At present, only 5,000 people book online. The meeting also decided to continue the darshan for Sabarimala pilgrims without making online bookings.

Guruvayur Ekadashi will be celebrated on December 13, 14, and 15. Tens of thousands of people booked through the virtual queue will have priority viewing facilities.

During the Mandala Makaravilak, it was decided to make the Guruvayur temple and its surroundings plastic-free. As part of this, it was decided to eliminate the plastic container for the offering stew.

A dialysis unit will be set up at Devaswom Medical Center. The infrastructure for this will be ready soon. The decision was made to set up dialysis units within a month. The meeting also decided to seek the permission of the government to create posts for the doctors and technicians required to run the dialysis unit.