CHENNAI: The school education department will conduct the enrolment drive from April 17 to 28 with an aim to increase the number of students opting for government schools, especially in classes 1 to 3. While the drive is usually conducted in June, it has been planned ahead to ensure that government schools have more time to publicise government schemes and attract more students.
The school education department has asked district officials to hire a vehicle to create awareness for every 50 schools. These vehicles will travel all around the districts and spread awareness. This would include foreign trips for government school children winning competitions, 20% reservation for government school children in government jobs, 7.5 reservation in higher education and Rs 1,000 per month for higher education for girls studying in government schools.
The circular has asked the teachers of government schools to put in extra effort to ensure that they increase the number of students in the next academic year. The funds for the programme will be released from the integrated education department to the respective districts.
"One of the major reasons why the parents opt for private schools is that they feel that the children will be involved in extracurricular activities to develop their skills. In the past year, we have included several extracurricular activities including arts and culture competitions. Apart from that, we have also asked the teachers to ensure that awareness is created among parents on the basic facilities including toilets and drinking water in government schools as many of them have improved in recent years. All the education officials, including Illam Thedi Kalvi volunteers, will be involved in the campaign," said a school education department official.