CHENNAI: After some embarrasing moments over the merger of schools, the state government is taking steps to shore up the image of the Chennai Corporation. According to school education minister Thangam Thennarasu, five corporation-run schools will be upgraded in the current academic year.

"At least two middle schools and three high schools will be upgraded to high and higher secondary schools this year," Thennarasu said in the assembly on Wednesday.

Earlier, at a function at a school in Saidapet to commemorate former chief minister K Kamaraj's birth anniversary, Mayor M Subramanian said the upgradation would help students continue in the same schools instead of seeking admission elsewhere after completing middle and high schools.

The schools being upgraded are CHS Pudupakkam in Velachery, CHS MGR Nagar, CHS Kalyanapuram in Pulianthoppe and middle schools at Thiruvenkadasamy in Pulianthoppe and Kannammapet in Kodambakkam. About 38,000 students of corporation middle schools will get Tamil-English dictionaries on Thursday, while arrangements have been made to give away shoes and bags soon, the Mayor said.