CHENNAI: Students from government and aided English medium schools do not have to pay tuition fees from this academic year, School Education Minister KA Sengottaiyan announced when the demands for grants for the School Education Department were taken up during the ensuing Assembly session on Tuesday.
While Tamil medium students had no tuition fees, the English medium students had to pay Rs 200 as tuition fees and Rs 50 towards the parents teachers association, until 2018-19. However, from this year, this fee will be waived.”We found that many students opt for English medium schools as it provides them better job opportunities in the future. Many parents from economically poor background are willing to pay fees to send their children to English medium schools,” said PK Ilamaran, president of the Tamil Nadu Government School Teachers Association, welcoming the initiative.
The government, over the last two decades, has opened English medium sections in both, government and aided schools, to prevent migration of students into private schools. In addition to this, Sengottaiyan also announced that the State will invest Rs 17.60 crore to develop 88 model government schools across Tamil Nadu. In 2008, one government school was chosen in each district. These schools are given smart classrooms, updated libraries and new infrastructure. They will serve as models to other schools in the neighbourhood.
The minister also announced that teachers will be trained on students’ safety at a budget of Rs 18.39 crore, newly appointed Anganwadi teachers will be trained at a budget of Rs 16.83 crore and that parents of government school students will receive a message if their ward is absent from school.