The Times of India  18.08.2010

Corpn admits English is a big draw, changes medium for 15 schools

CHENNAI: Acknowledging that English as a medium of intstruction was a bigger draw, the Chennai Corporation has decided to introduce English medium sections in 15 more of its schools from October 17.

According to mayor M Subramanian, corporation schools were not finding enough takers and that addition of English medium sections could work wonders "in boosting the school's strength."

"Before we introduced English medium sections in 25 schools during the last academic year, their total strength was 750. It shot up to 1,382 during the current academic year. Going by the success rate, more schools will get English medium sections in the future," Subramanian said.

He said this during a consultative session with the heads and teachers of various Chennai schools on Monday. The mayor wanted each teacher to enrol at least 10 students in their school to bolster the strength. When suggestions were sought from teachers about how to attract more students, they boiled down to a few more English medium sections, badges, neckties and adequate infrastructure for primary sections.

Of the 284 Chennai Corporation schools, about 55 have English medium sections with a total student strength of 14,348. Of them, 11,987 students are in the higher secondary schools. "The dwindling student strength in the schools has been a cause of worry for the administration. Even as efforts are being made to improve the class roll, more students are moving to private schools so that they can study in English," a senior corporation official said.

He pointed out that the student strength in corporation schools had dipped to 1.08 lakh from 1.35 lakh a few years ago. A corporation-funded study by the Department of Outreach, Loyola College in March this year revealed that many parents wanted English medium sections in the schools. "The study found that lack of staff, poor quality of mid-day meals, poor environment, lack of basic infrastructure and non-commitment of the teaching staff, were responsible for the poor strength," the official said.