He first speaks with the school authorities, then with the students and their families, and finally meets everyone together.

There’s light at the end of the tunnel for two students of St. Thomas Central School who were expelled for hugging on the school campus.

The school has decided to take the children back, after a meeting with Shashi Tharoor, MP, at Government Guest House here on Friday afternoon.

The students’ expulsion for a public display of affection after a competition had hit the headlines, stirring a huge row.

Mr. Tharoor, who had criticised the school's decision earlier, called the students, their parents, and the school management for a meeting to discuss a resolution to the issue, to enable the students to appear for their annual examinations.

Mr. Tharoor spoke with the school authorities first, represented by Mar Thoma Church Educational Society secretary Rajan Varghese, Principal Sebastian T. Joseph, and lawyer for the school Mridul John Mathew. He next spoke with the two students and their families, before meeting everyone together.

The meeting is learnt to have ended on a positive note. The school authorities agreed to take back the students, and assured the parents that the students would be able to appear for their examinations.

The school is said to have insisted that the boy’s family not go to High Court in appeal against an earlier decision quashing an interim order of the Kerala State Commission for Child Rights upholding his right to education. However, the family insisted that the remarks against the boy needed to be expunged.

The school, it is learnt, has some more conditions, which will be discussed at a meeting scheduled with the boy’s family on January 3.

The girl student will be taken back once she submits her transfer cerificate.

Official intimation about the reinstatement of both the students is expected by January 3.