Sorurce : The Hindu Date : 17.06.2009
Corporates urged to help revive Corporation schools
Special Correspondent
CHENNAI: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), southern region, has urged corporates to help revive the 30 Chennai Corporation schools that were merged with schools nearby run by the civic body recently.
The Corporation had decided to merge the 30 schools in view of the steadily dwindling classroom strength.
The civic body runs 313 schools – 139 primary, 109 middle, 38 high and 27 higher secondary schools. With the merger, the number has come down to 283.
Noting that the schools that were merged included Corporation schools in Chintadripet, Thousand Lights, Chamiers Road and T. Nagar, the CII noted that school education was an area where corporate houses, which are actively engaged in various Corporate Social Responsibility projects, could bring quality and value to.
“Their (corporates) support to the government schools can improve the quality of education to the children and thereby create more takers,” the CII stated.
Seeking industry’s intervention on the school education front, the CII urged corporates to adopt corporation schools and arrange special lectures for children that would further value-based education.
Such measures would achieve the twin goals of sustaining Corporation schools that cater to the educational needs of the underprivileged and grooming value-sensitive students, the CII said.
When contacted, Corporation Commissioner-in-charge Ashish Chatterjee said that the merger decision was a purely administrative one.
The rationale was to allow students of the smaller schools to access better facilities and several newly introduced extra-curricular activities that were introduced at the larger institutions in their vicinity.
“Reconsider closure”
The north Chennai district committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has urged the Chennai Corporation to reconsider its decision to close down 30 of its schools.
A press release from the north Chennai district secretary T.K. Shanmugam said the move would endanger the future of education in the city.
Instead, the Corporation should improve the student strength by increasing allocation for education, appointing adequate number of teachers and improving basic infrastructure in schools, he added.
