238 government primary schools revived

CHENNAI: One teacher for every classroom, a demonstration of better communication skills and learning and a sincere effort from teachers were needed for 238 government primary schools facing closure to get revived and restore the faith of parents.

 These schools which had strength of less than 10 students last year were able to enroll additional students through various initiatives. 

A panchayat union primary school in Iduhatty near Ooty had only 6 students in the middle of June. But, the joint effort of school teachers, Lions Club and the villagers have revived the school and the strength has increased to 98 in just two months after S.Chitra, the headmistress of the school, took charge.

There are nearly 500 families in the village. The villagers are mainly the tea estate workers and farmers spending up to Rs 20,000 per year for the education of their wards.

“Initially, it was not easy to convince the parents to send their kids to the government school. They said they already paid the fees. But, we promised them new uniforms and new teachers to teach English. Then only we attracted students,” Chitra said.

“We spoke to mothers of children and enquired why they are sending their kids to private schools. The parents said they wanted their children to pursue English medium education,” she added.

The two teachers in the school have decided to shell out Rs 5,000 each to employ two additional teachers. Her husband Manivannan is a retired Army officer and secretary of the Lions Club, Ooty.

The Lions Club helped the school to buy new uniforms and establish a children’s park in the school.

The teachers further asked three months time to show the results. Initially, the only handful of students joined in the school.

“We invited a guest and conducted a test for both English medium and Tamil medium students in front of their parents. The students studying in English medium got four out of 10 marks whereas the Tamil medium students got eight out of 10 marks. It opened the eyes of the parents and they spread the word,” Chitra explained.

The villagers also are paying money for three extra teachers. The school has now totally got seven teachers including two teachers employed by the government. It also got an exclusive teacher for spoken language.

After facing the demand from parents, they even accommodated pre-school students. It has got 19 pre-school students and 79 students from classes 1 to 5. 

Another panchayat union primary school in Kavanur near Maduranthakam in Kancheepuram district was also able to attract more students by demonstrating the learning outcome of their students.

“We had only eight students and our school had two teachers. We trained our students so well that our Tamil medium students outperformed the students studying in English medium in private schools,” S.Kalaiselvi, HM of the school said.

While the English medium students studying in a private school could not read alphabets, the eight students who campaigned for enrollment demonstrated better reading and writing skills.

“Our students’ ability to read in English convinced the parents to send their wards to our school. We also promised them a monthly meeting to assess students’ learning,” Kalaiselvi said. The school has got 35 students and is likely to increase more. 

Another school in Thoraiyatty near Ooty also increased its strength from 8 last year to 54 this year.

“The government has appointed only two teachers. Parents Teachers Association has appointed three teachers one for spoken English, another two teachers for maths and science subjects and they have also established a school reform committee” said N.Siva, headmaster of the school.

The elementary school and nearby high school headmasters, teachers along with the villagers formed a reform committee and revived both the primary and high schools.

Senior educationist S.S. Rajagopalan said, “The basic problem with government primary schools is that they have got just two or three teachers. We need one teacher per class whatever is the strength in the school to provide quality education. It will alone improve the students’ strength in primary schools.”

“All private schools have one teacher per class. To gain the public trust, we need to have teachers for all classes,” he suggested.

Officials said, “Of 877 schools which had less than 10 students in the previous academic year, 238 schools got more students this year. But, still, 32 students could not attract a single student for various reasons.”