The Times of India 16.03.2013
No English medium in Trichy corporation schools even next academic year
is still hanging in the balance and the system is unlikely to become a
reality in the next academic year. Meanwhile, the teachers of
corporation and government schools in the city are trying to rope in
more students for enrolment.
On June 28, 2006, the Trichy corporation council passed a resolution
to launch English as medium of instruction in six corporation-run
schools, as a pilot project. The civic body had decided to embark on the
proposal following the drop in admissions in corporation schools and to
provide English medium education to the poverty-stricken students,
particularly the children of its sanitary workers. Despite the
resolution having been passed in 2006, the scheme did not find any
mention in the recently-tabled corporation budget for 2013-14. “We are
yet to take a final call on the matter. Initially, we sought suggestions
from private English medium schools to provide quality education. But
there was no positive response from their side. So, we have decided to
introduce the scheme with the help of the parent teachers’ associations
in our schools now,” corporation commissioner, V P Dhandapani, told TOI
on Wednesday night.
Dhandapani
also said, “We have to appoint more faculty through the Trichy
corporation, to run the English medium. So, we seek support from the
parent teachers associations to share the salary expenses for the
faculty in order to reduce our burden. We should also collect a nominal
fee from the students. However, it has not been finalised so far. Due to
these constraints, the English medium will not be introduced in the
next academic year.”
At this juncture, the education
department, especially the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) began creating
awareness among the public to enrol their children in government schools
instead of private institutions. For instance, the students of
Pandamangalam South Municipality Government Elementary school students carried out a rally to create awareness about the government schools.
But the irony is that most of the government school teachers enrol
their children in private schools considering the quality of education
provided there. A headmaster of a corporation school said, “Nowadays,
everyone, including us, want to provide education to our children
through English medium. Since such facility is not available in our
schools, we prefer private schools. But we expected that the English
medium would be introduced this year. Now, it is not possible. So, it is
clear that it will be tough to enrol more students this year.”