CHENNAI: The State government recently launched its ambitious Illam Thedi Kalvi (education at doorsteps) scheme to compensate for the learning losses caused by the pandemic, but experts have raised concern over the implementation and effectiveness of the scheme.
Now that schools have reopened, the programme will only add to students’ burden instead of providing relief, say teachers. Besides, the timing is questionable, Tamil Nadu Primary School Teachers’ Federation State president M Manimegalai asserts. “If the programme was implemented in June, students would have benefited immensely. But now, it holds little significance as schools have reopened and government school teachers can take care of the learning loss,” Manimegalai explains.
“Having spent 19 long months away from school, children now struggle to sit attentively in class for even one hour. So how can we expect them to go back from school and again attend classes by Illam Thedi Kalvi volunteers,” she asks.
Under the scheme, volunteers will take classes at a common place after school hours. It is to go on for six months, and the government has allotted `200 crore for it. “The government should have instead used this Rs 200 crore to appoint enough teachers and build sufficient classrooms so the Covid protocol can be followed,” says government school teacher S Umamaheswari.
The government is still seeking volunteers for the scheme, and by the time they are selected, trained, and deputed to take classes in villages, it would be too late to deal with the learning loss, she adds. Educationist Prince Gajendra Babu says the government is promoting an informal alternative method of education through the programme, which could worsen the State’s dropout problem. “If classes are held at children’s doorsteps, parents in rural areas will stop sending children, especially girls, to school.”