Chennai: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Joseph Vijay on Thursday warned the members of his Cabinet against “reel gimmicks” in schools and public institutions, ThePrint has learnt. Coming in tandem with a reiteration of the state government’s zero-tolerance policy on corruption, the chief minister’s stern intervention follows a controversy generated by Industries Minister S. Keerthana making a reel at a government school.
Visiting the school a week ago as part of an outreach initiative, the minister had questioned a young girl about her father’s profession in what appeared to be an attempt to assess the child’s English-speaking skills—all captured on video. The student couldn’t answer satisfactorily, and Keerthana then questioned the teachers over the student’s inability to converse in English.
The video was then widely circulated, sparking backlash over its appropriateness, insensitivity, and the use of official visits for creating reel-worthy content using children. Critics accused the minister of turning an educational setting into a stage for social media optics rather than focusing on substantive governance or student welfare.
Chief Minister Vijay directly addressed the issue at the Cabinet meeting. “No reels gimmicks in the name of shooting reels. Do not enter schools just to make reels,” he warned his ministers, according to sources privy to deliberations. Vijay made it clear that such actions would not be tolerated, signalling that strict disciplinary measures could follow if ministers continued using public institutions and vulnerable settings like schools for personal social media content.
Earlier, the government has recently issued a directive prohibiting all non-academic, political, caste, or communal activities on school premises. Beyond the reels controversy, the Cabinet meeting focused heavily on governance standards and integrity. Vijay also said that the government remains committed to a “corruption-free, honest, and transparent administration.” He instructed ministers that strict action would be taken against anyone involved in corruption or irregularity allegations, without any bias.
Two days ago, the government launched a dedicated WhatsApp contact number for citizens to directly report incidents of bribery and corruption. In recent actions, six Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) officials have been sacked for alleged corrupt practices. Additionally, district joint secretary and panchayat president N.V. Veera was removed from his post for accepting a bribe from a contractor, all on a video that went viral.
(Edited by Nardeep Singh Dahiya)
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