The Hindu 01.12.2014
Chennai Corporation to roll out SWOT analysis for its schools
In a renewed effort to give Chennai Corporation schools a
leg up, the civic body’s officials are making a fresh assessment of all
its 282 schools through an analysis of admission data.
Sources
at the Corporation said a SWOT analysis would be conducted by taking
into account admission statistics of the past three years in all
Corporation schools.
“We are trying to understand why
admission may have dropped in certain areas and figure ways to retain
the children in our schools,” a Corporation official said.
Senior Corporation officials will be making field visits to the schools.
“A
senior official visited one of our schools in north Chennai recently,
to assess the possibility of converting it into a residential school
under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan,” the official added.
About 56 schools had been merged between the period of 1999 and 2011 due to low enrolment.
Recently,
a resolution was passed at the Corporation council to convert 12
defunct Corporation schools into shelters for homeless persons.
Further, unused school buildings have been turned into offices for the Corporation.
Corporation
officials, however, said that as far as quality of education is
concerned, the schools are on a par with private ones.
“Maybe
we lack good marketing skills, but our students are doing just as well.
We are just facing stiff competition from private schools, as parents
believe it is below their station to admit their children in Corporation
schools. We need to figure out a way to dispel that myth,” a senior
Corporation official said.