We introduce three notion of tameness of the Nori fundamental group scheme for a normal quasiprojective variety $X$ over an algebraically closed field. It is proved that these three notions agree if $X$ admits a smooth completion with strict normal crossing divisor as the complement. We also prove a Lefschetz type restriction theorem for the tame Nori fundamental group scheme for such an $X$.

13 pages. Final version. Major changes in Section 4. The main theorems remain unchanged