‘Smart' beginnings: TN returns to school today
With all govt primary schools equipped with smart boards, students will experience digital intervention from Class I onwards this year.
Ahead of reopening, city schools have spruced up their campuses and conducted teacher meetings to plan academic activities.
"Students will have a unique experience of digital intervention from Class I itself," elementary education director P A Naresh said. All primary schools are provided with smart boards, and middle schools have got hi-tech labs.
"Increasing enrolment, sustaining enrolled students, quality intervention, and zero tolerance to Pocso-related offences will be our main focus this year," he further said.
With already 1.85 lakh admissions in Class I in govt schools this year, enrolment could exceed four lakh as most parents will enrol their wards in June.
For Classes VI to VIII, the state govt has announced a new 'Thiran' initiative to improve reading, learning, and basic maths skills.
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"Improving reading and writing skills of students from Class VI to VIII in Tamil and English is our top priority. We have also instructed the teachers to use online resources for improving pronunciation and spoken language of students," school education director S Kannappan said.
To improve basic arithmetic skills, teachers were asked to focus on teaching tables and repeating them every day.
The state govt also announced curriculum and syllabus revision for all classes starting from 2025-26.
However, citing pending dues from Union govt, the state govt has not conducted RTE admissions in private schools this year. About 70,000 students enrolled in 8,000 private schools every year.
Schools such as MCC Higher Secondary School in Chetpet are planning to take foundational classes for exams such as NEET and JEE for students from Class IX and X during the new academic year.
"For the lower classes, we are going to concentrate on reading, writing, and spelling contests in the first month," said G Jebadoss Thinakaran, school headmaster.
Chennai corporation schools have set a target to increase admissions and improve performance in board exams. "Our priority is to improve our enrolment this year. We also want more top scorers in Classes X and XII board exams. We will try to implement the new initiative to improve reading and writing skills," said Padmaja R, headmistress of Chennai Girls Higher Secondary School in Saidapet.
Other board schools, including CBSE, are planning to reopen after the summer vacation, between June 2 and 6.
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