CHENNAI: The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) has submitted a proposal to the state government to hand over schools that come under the School Education Department in the extended areas. At present, the corporation manages 281 schools in the city.
According to corporation sources, since the schools in extended areas have not come under the corporation even after 11 years of areas like Thiruvottiyur, Manali, Madhavaram, Ambattur, Valasaravakkam, Perungudi, Alandur and Sholinganallur are being added to the corporation, and infrastructure improvement in these schools has become a challenge.
“Even in areas like Alandur, we as corporation officials are not the inspecting authority and are not allowed entry. Any requests for infrastructure improvement should be submitted by the district education officers to the corporation building department,” said a corporation official.
This takes a lot of time. If the schools come under the corporation work can be carried out sooner, said the official. After schools are handed over, teachers can decide if they want to continue to serve under the state or join the corporation. They will be given a ‘breathing time’ of three years to decide, said sources.
Apart from infrastructure, there are separate initiatives for corporation school students that do not apply to students in extended areas. “We recently took our top scorers in Class 10 to a North India tour; under the ‘Wings to Fly’ project, selected students are also given the chance to fly out of the country,” said a corporation official.
The corporation also has financial assistance schemes for Rs 45,000 per year for professional courses like MBBS/BE, Rs 25,000 a year for integrated courses, Rs 10,000 a year for teacher training and nursing courses and Rs 7,000 a year for other degrees/diplomas, apart from other schemes like cash prizes for 100% attendance and smart classrooms.