The New Indian Express 12.12.2010
Corporation’s ‘schools of excellence' criticized
In November, Chennai Mayor M Subramanian had launched the civic body’s 10 Schools of Excellence, selected from its 10 zones and vouched to improve their standards.
Convenor, State Platform for Common School System, Prince Gajendra Babu, said that it implies that the government has accepted that the Corporation schools are in a bad shape as compared to the private schools. “What about the rest of the schools, this will bring about an inequality among the Corporation schools themselves, “ he questioned.
The Chennai Corporation’s move would send a wrong signal that other Chennai schools are of poor standards. A resolution was passed that all the Chennai Schools should be declared as schools of excellence and uniformly improved.
He further said that the head of Private Schools Fee Determination Committee, Justice Raviraja Pandian, had also passed on the buck of punishing schools not following the fee structure, to the Directorate of School Education. The Directorate of School Education and the Chief Education Officer have passed the tackling of the issue to the Inspector of Matriculation Schools.He also said that the Right to Education Act, should make education free and compulsory upto 18 years.
