CHENNAI: The school education department has asked government and government-aided schools to upload the health and well-being details of the students in a mobile application created for the purpose. This includes basic details like height and weight, which will be used to find out differences in their features that would indicate the presence of any diseases.
This would help in identifying the congenital and developmental disabilities, anaemia and vitamin deficiencies at the earliest and treat them properly. However, the teachers feel that they are not equipped to do it without proper training.
“The list has a total of 42 questions regarding the physical features of the students. It includes questions like if there are any abnormalities in the face, the colour of the teeth and fungal infection in the mouth among others. As part of the questions, it has been mentioned what diseases the symptom could indicate. Since we don’t have any proper training, we may miss the symptoms unless they are obvious,” said a government school teacher from Villupuram.
The teachers added that the initiative is also affecting their teaching hours. Since the opening of the schools, we have been asked to collect details of students for bus passes and ensure students have accounts in post offices apart from uploading various details online, they said.
“In some districts, the teachers have been asked to take the students to post offices to open accounts. Moreover, we have to visit the houses of the students if they are absent for more than a week,” said a member of the Tamil Nadu PG Teachers’ Association.
Many of the schools don’t have headmasters and there have been no appointment of office assistants for several years. In such a situation, increasing our work burden will have a negative impact on the quality of education, the members added.