Surplus books supplied to newly-enrolled students in government schools

Surplus books supplied to newly-enrolled students in government schools
on Aug 11, 2021

The School Education Department has ensured supply of textbooks to newly-enrolled students in government schools who had shifted from private institutions this year, by exhausting its surplus stock. “The books for the first term have been provided to all the newly-enrolled students. The extra textbooks that had been supplied for the last two years were also sourced from neighbouring districts,” Chief Educational Officer R. Arivazhagan said. For the next term, the books will be supplied by the Tamil Nadu Textbook and Educational Services Corporation based on the updated particulars in the EMIS (Educational Management Information System), the CEO said. The department has started off by supplying free textbooks. All other freebies like uniforms and footwear will be provided based on the new data uploaded in the EMIS portal, it is learnt. As for adequacy of infrastructure for the newly-enrolled students, there is not likely to be any shortcoming since additional buildings have been constructed in most of the schools over the years with Central-government funding under Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and Rastriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, according to school heads. Additional requirement of furniture, however, will have to be met with contributions from philanthropists. At present, the availability of books is what is helping students to follow the portions being covered through Kalvi telvision channel. “Possession of textbooks by children is helping us considerably since we are able to give the students writing assignments in substantial measure,” a teacher of a government school in Tiruverumbur Panchayat Union said. The teachers, however, observe that parents of children in government schools, in very many cases, have not been extending the desired extent of cooperation for deriving the utility of online interface. For instance, there have been instances of parents hesitating to permit their wards to utilise their smartphones. There have also been cases of elders in families preferring to watch entertainment channels in television at home, thereby eliminating scope for the children to follow the teachings through the Kalvi channel, a senior teacher lamented. Source - The Hindu