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More than 66% schools in TN have less than 100 students - Is there really any increase in the new admissions?
Posted on: 04/Nov/2022 10:00:21 AM
The school education department has been basking under the achievement of increasing the new admissions in the government and government aided schools in Tamilnadu by 15 lakhs in the previous 2 years.
Now, while preparing data to provide composite school grants, the officials have found that nearly one third of govt as well as govt aided schools in the state have less than 30 students. There are less than 100 students only in more than 66% of the schools. Just 6 govt schools have more than 1000 students.
The total student strength of both govt as well as govt aided schools in TN is now 52.75 lakhs and there are totally 37387 such schools now present. Point is that this includes the 15lakhs new admissions in tehn last 2 years also. In the last 2 years, many families faced severe financial issues due to the Coronavirus pandemic is known. In those schools present in the cities and towns only the new admissions were high and this was as per a senior officer from the school education department. Schools with less student strength are present in the rural district in the southern parts of TN.
To know about the school strength to calculate the composite school grants, the statistics were collected now. It was brought to light by an official that 11265 schools had just 1to 30 students. This has proved that on an average the number of students in the classrooms in these schools is in low single digits only. Some schools have less than 10 students too.
It must be remembered that the TN govt previously thought about merging schools together to increase the students strength but that plan was dropped. The official pointed out that the plan of merging schools could not be carried out because of the fact that the distance between the schools was high in the rural places in the state. The students would find it difficult to travel long distances.
It must be taken into account that there are 390 schools that have more than 1000 students. Out of the total 390 schools just 6 belong to the government and others are aided institutions only. Just 3774 schools out of the total 37387 schools present in the state have student strength from 251 to 1000. These schools are mostly located in the cities.
The poor infrastructure facilities in the government schools in TN has been the reason why many parents do not want their kids to study in these schools. This was according to Mr. Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary, SPCSS - TN. For the private schools, the state govt has been spending several crores every year by encouraging RTE admissions. It is now said that the funds must be used to increase the students strength in the govt schools across the state.
