Chief secretary bats for monthly review of working of schools in Chennai

CHENNAI: As the new academic year begins, chief secretary Shiv Das Meena has instructed district collectors and chief education officers to hold monthly district review meetings to focus on monitoring complaints related to student safety, tracking progression of students from Class XII to colleges and reviewing schools with low enrolment.
In the coming days, chief education officers will identify children who remain unenrolled, and target future interventions.
When TOI spoke to govt school teachers across the city, tracking academic performance, maintaining a decent attendance record, and maintaining school infrastructure came up as key issues.
After recent incidents of dilapidated structures in schools, officials have been directed to identify unsafe buildings. City chief education officer S Mars said, “We will be surveying schools. Based on recent complaints, we have informed public works department workers to visit some schools to fix electrical wires. We will be following up with headmasters and school management committees (SMC) too.”
Ward 126 councillor, whose ward covers Mylapore and surrounding areas, and SMC member Amrida Varshini said she recently received complaints of inadequate space in a govt school in her ward. “We are building an additional classroom to accommodate more students. With more funds, we can focus on the maintenance of facilities in schools too,” she said.
Tracking attendance and academic performance is another challenge. Teachers observed that while students are regular in the initial months, many gradually skip school. “They are either busy with part-time jobs or engage in anti-social activities. We want them to perform well in school. When we mark a student absent on the Educational Management Information System (EMIS), an alert goes to the parents. We hope parents push children to be regular,” said K Mari Selvi, a govt school teacher from Kovilambakkam.
Meanwhile, teachers are advised to upload student performance data to EMIS. A senior official from the school education department said, “During heavy rain in Dec, several papers were lost. This is why we want to push all data online.”