The Hindu : New Delhi News : Mirrors, nail cutters to be provided in Uttar Pradesh schools to improve children’s physical appearance

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 08, 2007
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New Delhi

Mirrors, nail cutters to be provided in Uttar Pradesh schools to improve children’s physical appearance

Atiq Khan

The intent is to build up self-confidence in the students and groom them for the future

U.P. figures right at the bottom of the ladder in Science, Mathematics and English: survey
“A majority of primary teachers are either habitual latecomers or absent themselves”

LUCKNOW: The Uttar Pradesh Government has come up with an innovative idea for making primary school children aware of their physical appearance.

The intent is to build up self-confidence in the students and groom them for the future.

Mirrors would be installed in all the primary schools across the State along with nail cutters, with the students being taught the virtues of manicure and pedicure. An order to this effect was issued recently.

Weekly checking

The child’s physical appearance will be checked once in a week. There are over 90,000 primary and upper primary schools from Class I to VIII in the State.

“Students of State-run schools in Uttar Pradesh suffer because of lack of grooming and communication skills that hamper their progress in this era of competition. Awareness has to be created as to how important it is to be well-groomed,” said a senior official of the State Basic Education Department.

This move, apart from inculcating the importance of grooming skills, would also help in improving the quality of primary education in Uttar Pradesh, the official said.

Mentioning the quality of education, a survey conducted by the Education Department has revealed that U.P. figures right at the bottom of the ladder in Science, Mathematics and English.

A common complaint is that a majority of around 1.90 lakh primary teachers were either found to be habitual latecomers or absented themselves, which resulted in the course not being completed till the examinations.

Course divided into weekly capsules

To arrest this malaise, the entire course being taught in primary schools was recently divided into weekly capsules. Explained a senior official, “If English and Hindi are taken up in a week then the same subjects would be taught in all the schools from Ghazipur in eastern UP to Ghaziabad in western UP for the whole week.”

This measure would help the inspecting officers to know whether the schools are functioning in the right direction.

Extra classes

Moreover, if the course is incomplete the teachers would have to take extra classes, added the official.

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