The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Focus on improving soft skills of government school students

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 12, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Focus on improving soft skills of government school students

Special Correspondent

Taking a look: Participants at a seminar at SRM University examining Activity Based Learning kits on Monday. — Photo: A. Muralitharan

TAMBARAM: The State Government is considering offering lessons over the radio as part of its efforts to improve the English speaking skills of government school students, according to School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu.

Speaking at the inaugural function of a two-day national seminar on ‘Quality concerns in elementary education’ at SRM University, Kattankulathur, on Monday, he said it had become imperative for students of government institutions, both schools and colleges, to improve their English speaking abilities.

He later told presspersons that the State Government had allotted Rs.1.5 crore to set up language laboratories in 30 government schools. The Government was also in discussion with experts and researchers from Anna University on the matter of acquiring the necessary software for the project.

In his inaugural address, Mr. Thennarasu said he hoped that the Activity Based Learning methodology would be extended to private schools too. The Government has found that 1,03,261 children of school-going age in Tamil Nadu were out of schools. Efforts were being made to draw them to transit schools before inducting them into the mainstream education system. He also released an abstract of the seminar on the occasion.

Academics and bureaucrats at the seminar, jointly organised by the Directorate of Teacher Education, Research and Training, highlighted the hurdles in ensuring quality education at the elementary school level. They appealed to stakeholders to come up with concrete proposals to overcome these hurdles.

G.T. Bhandage, principal, Regional Institute of Education (NCERT), Mysore, said the present state of elementary teacher education was far from satisfactory. Undertaking research activities at all levels and in all aspects of school education would go a long way in improving the quality of school education.

M.P. Vijayakumar, state project director, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, said infrastructure in schools were being improved and the issue of shortage of teachers addressed, yet quality was elusive. There was a wide gap between theory and teaching. P. Perumalsamy, DTERT director, M. Kutralingam, School Education Secretary; J. Uma Maheswari, Director of Elementary Education; T.R. Pachamuthu and P. Sathyanarayanan, Chancellor and Vice-Chancellor of SRM University, spoke.

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