CHENNAI: Government and government-aided schools in the state have admitted 4,23,955 students as of July 28 this academic year, up by 23,591 from the 4,00,364 enrolled during the corresponding period last year, according to the school education department.
Of the total admissions this year, 41,231 were in KG, 2,94,209 in Class 1 and 88,515 in classes 2 to 8, with Class 1 accounting for the largest share.
During the corresponding period last year, government schools had admitted 32,807 children to KG, 2,75,459 to Class 1 and 92,098 to classes 2 to 8. Of the Class 1 admissions, 2,11,563 were in Tamil-medium schools and 63,896 in English-medium schools. Admissions to government schools usually continue till the end of July.
Compared with last year, KG admissions increased by 8,424 and Class 1 admissions by 18,750, while enrolment in classes 2 to 8 declined by 3,583. Class 1 continued to account for nearly 70% of total admissions in both years. Unlike last year, the school education department did not release a break-up of Tamil-medium and English-medium Class 1 admissions.
Officials in the Directorate of Elementary Education attributed the rise in admissions largely to the 7.5% horizontal reservation for government school students in professional courses.
Despite the increase, government and government-aided schools together continue to account for less than half of the state’s annual Class 1 enrolment. Officials said around 7.5 lakh children become eligible for admission to Class 1 every academic year. Of them, 2.94 lakh have enrolled in government and aided schools this year, while the rest have opted for private institutions.
Teachers welcome ban on question paper fee
Chennai: The TN High and Higher Secondary Graduate Teachers’ Association has welcomed the government’s decision to abolish the question paper fee collected from students in government high and higher secondary schools from the 2026-27 academic year, while seeking an inquiry into collections made in previous years.
In a letter to Minister A Rajmohan, the association’s state president A Malaikozhundhan thanked the government for announcing that question papers would be supplied free of cost to students.
The association said government schools are permitted to collect only `50 towards the PTA fund. It also said that the collections lacked transparency, as parents were not issued proper receipts. The association also pointed out that no such fee was collected in schools under the Directorate of Elementary Education.