True empowerment

If Govt or ‘municipal’ schools as we call them in Mumbai really buckle up and get going, most certainly they can give the private schools a run for their money.

After the AAP in Delhi started working on making the Govt schools stronger, looks like the same vein on thought is spreading all across. The Chennai Corporation School (CCS), Irusappa Street at Triplicane is drawing a lot of positive response. These schools all over India offer education free of cost.

And the state Govt there has taken the upliftment of these CCS’s very much to heart. The work on the makeover of all 281 Corporation Schools is expected to further increase the number of students, and attract more private school students. The project, at an estimated cost of Rs.200 crore, includes developing world-class infrastructure for Chennai Corporation Schools. 28 Corporation schools have already commissioned smart classrooms.

The percentage of students in English medium sections has increased from 25 five years ago to 75 in 2019. Just three out of the 281 Corporation schools are completely Tamil medium in the city.

As a number of residents of slums in the city are expected to be resettled, the civic body is planning to take major initiatives for competing with private schools, to offer free education in a world-class environment for kids of lower middle class parents, who cannot afford to pay exorbitant fees in private schools across the city.

Now that’s such a fantastic and deep impacting initiative. Wonder why other states do not realise this? Shouldn’t this become the national agenda?