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Tamil Nadu News Papers - Education - TNIUS Coimbatore

SMS alert for parents of absent kids

Sunday, 16 August 2009 00:00 administrator
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The New Indian Express 16.08.2009

SMS alert for parents of absent kids

Express News Service


CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation on Saturday launched a technology project that would keep track of the staff and student attendance in a prompt and effective way.

The highlight of the novel scheme is its plan to text SMS alert to parents of children who are found absent when attendance was marked in the morning, Mayor M Subramanian said here.

The software, which has been developed at a cost of Rs 2.5 lakh, would help the civic body have better management of its schools and enable its officials to monitor each and every detail of all the schools through network interface, he told reporters.

An official of the Parinamam Software Solutions which has developed the software for the civic body said SMS carrying the name of the student and his/her class will be sent by the headmaster to the parents immediately after the morning attendance.

“The application has been designed in such a way that the SMS would be sent almost instantaneously to those parents whose children were found absent after the cut-off time for attendance in schools. A staff in every school will be given charge to update the attendance on time,” he told Express.

The software would also have a database of students and staff working in the schools, and the details of marks scored by students, both term-wise and year-wise, for analytical purposes by the higher officials of the department as well as their parents.

On day one, the project was implemented at the Corporation Girls Higher Secondary School in Nungambakkam after uploading a detailed database of its 816 students and 36 teachers. It will be expanded to the remaining 26 such higher secondary schools within a month.

The next phase will see the scheme implemented in all the 285 schools of the civic body. That would enable it to serve as a platform for the higher officials and the corporation’s education department, besides the school officials, teachers, students and their parents to exchange views on different issues pertaining to quality education.

Last Updated on Monday, 17 August 2009 11:13
 

“Govt. should give incentives to teachers”

Tuesday, 11 August 2009 03:13 administrator
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The Hindu 11.08.2009

“Govt. should give incentives to teachers”

Special Correspondent

“To motivate them to improve pass percentage in schools”

 

Government watering down the syllabus would prove to be against the interests of the students

The government should upgrade the State Board syllabus gradually to that of CBSE

VELLORE: The Tamil Nadu government should introduce a system of providing incentives to teachers based on points scored by them in respect of their performance, in order to motivate them to improve the pass percentage of schools, especially in Vellore district, which got the lowest pass percentage in the State, said Sekar Viswanathan, Pro-Chancellor of VIT University.

Inaugurating the one-day training camp-cum-seminar for headmasters, organised by the Junior Red Cross (JRC), Tirupattur Education District, at Vani Vidyalaya Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Gandhinagar near here on Monday, Mr. Sekar Viswanathan said that each teacher could be given points for various aspects of their work in schools, such as teaching, helping the administration, research, etc. He said that under a similar system introduced in the VIT University, incentives were given not only to the teachers, but also to the non-teaching employees based on the points earned by them. A teacher or a non-teaching employee who scored 100 points would get one month’s salary as incentive.

The VIT Pro-Chancellor said that the practice of the government watering down the syllabus in order to increase the pass percentage of the students would prove to be against the interests of the students in the long run, and would affect future generations of students. The government should upgrade the State Board syllabus gradually to that of the Central Board of Secondary Education or the Indian Council for Secondary Education. The students studying these syllabi are able to perform well. The rural students are quite intelligent, and with some effort, they would be able to cope with the upgraded syllabus, he said.

Mr. Sekar Viswanathan said that as part of its social responsibility, the VIT, would, in association with the VIT Alumni Association, soon conduct subject-wise training programme for the teachers of government schools in Vellore district. The teachers would be trained to bring out the hidden talents in the students and make them perform well in the examinations. The students would not study well unless they have the fear of failure if they did not perform well in the examinations, he said.

G. Moorthy, Chief Educational Officer, Vellore, who presided, stressed the need for activities aimed at channelising youth towards good and constructive activities in order to prevent them from falling into the clutches of extremists, since 60% of the population comprised youth. The tendency to help others and a give-and-take attitude were dwindling among the students. “We are slowly converting our students into mark-securing machines. Through organisations such as the JRC, we should instil in the youth discipline, unity, tolerance, humanitarianism and a social service mentality. Academic education is only secondary,” he said.

Susheela Suryaprakash, honorary secretary, Indian Red Cross Society, Vellore district branch, stressed the need for inculcating discipline in the students from childhood in order to prevent the kind of domestic violence that is being witnessed in society.

It is the duty of the teachers to mould the students into good and disciplined citizens, she said.

A. Sundarapandian, district secretary, JRC, Tirupattur education district, welcomed the gathering.

Last Updated on Tuesday, 11 August 2009 03:22
 

Corporation to squeeze private schools

Thursday, 23 July 2009 12:35 administrator
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The New Indian Express 23.07.2009

Corporation to squeeze private schools



CHENNAI: In a landmark decision to increase its dwindling revenue resources, the Chennai Corporation Council on Wednesday gave its nod to a necessary amendment in the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act (1919) to impose property tax on private schools located in its limits. A resolution in this regard has been passed unanimously at the Council meeting.

It may be noted that, a resolution to impose property tax on private educational institutions had come up for a detailed discussion during a Council meeting last September but it was stalled by several councillors under the pretext that the schools were doing social service, even though a few councillors supported the bold move by the civic body to bring private educational institutions, exempted from paying property tax within the tax ambit.

Mayor M Subramanian had then formed a committee of leaders of different parties in the Chennai Corporation to decide on the issue. The committee had various sessions and recently came up with a list of private schools in the city. Based on the details and analysis provided by the committee, the civic body on Wednesday (as a first step) gave its green signal to amend the Chennai City Municipal Corporation Act to impose property tax on private schools. The city has 732 private schools and 119 government-aided private schools.

Most of the councillors who spoke on the resolution, said it would help the Corporation get more revenue.

Last Updated on Thursday, 23 July 2009 12:39
 
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