In order to acclimatise the students from Classes IX to XII to classroom learning after a long gap due to the pandemic, they will be given a five-day counselling before the reopening of schools, including the State-run ones, soon. At the first regional review meeting of government schools of all streams in Vellore region for the academic year, the School Education Minister, Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi, who chaired the meeting, said that such counselling for school students, especially those who would be writing their board examinations, would help them to focus better in studies. The initiative will be implemented in all schools in the State soon. “More extra-curricular and outdoor activities should be organised for students, especially those in government schools, to sharpen their learning skills. Teachers should monitor their wards’ performance regularly,” he said. At present, each educational region has at least four districts, covering mainly government schools. The Vellore region consists of Vellore, Tirupattur, Ranipet and Tiruvannamalai districts with a total of 2,381 government schools of all levels. A total of 54 senior education department officials in the region, including Chief Educational Officers (CEOs) and District Educational Officers (DEOs) shared their ideas at the meeting that discussed the need to raise the teaching standards in State-run schools in these districts.
At the review meeting, which was not held during the pandemic, subjects on improving learning skills of government school students, increasing enrolment, especially in lower classes and providing soft skills, were also discussed. Classes on self-defence, good-touch and bad-touch, and child sexual abuse should be held in government schools to make students aware of these issues. Officials said the review meeting in the region comes at a time when Vellore and Ranipet secured a low pass percentage in the recently held board examinations for Class X and XII. Senior teachers and education officials highlighted the need for virtual classrooms, audio-visual labs, better infrastructure facilities like classrooms, library, playgrounds and adequate staff. In this context, the Minister asked the education department officials including teachers to rope in elected representatives like MLAs in the neighbourhood, requesting them to allocate funds from the local constituency funds for building new classrooms and creating other infrastructure facilities in government schools. The State government has also requested MLAs to give priority of such funds for these public works. Currently, 816 dilapidated government school buildings have been identified in the Vellore region while Tirupattur has the highest number of 265 buildings that are being demolished. At the meeting, the School Education Secretary Kakarla Usha, School Education Department Commissioner K. Nandakumar, Ranipet Collector D. Bhaskara Pandian, Deepa Satyan, SP (Ranipet), elected representatives and officials took part.
