The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : “20 per cent of State funds spent on school education”

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Saturday, Nov 21, 2009
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

“20 per cent of State funds spent on school education”

Special Correspondent

TAMBARAM: No other State government in India gives as much importance to school education as Tamil Nadu does, Information Technology Minister Poongothai Aladi Aruna said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the prize distribution function of ‘Talhunt,’ a month-long inter-school talent hunt programme by Cognizant at its facility in Siruseri IT Park, off Rajiv Gandhi Salai, she said 20 per cent of the government’s funds was spent on school education.

This year Rs.7,500 crore has been allotted for School Education Department, Ms. Poongothai said. The Minister made it clear that the IT sector was not the preserve of convent educated lot as 71 per cent of all youth passing out of schools were from government schools and a number of them were part of the sector.

Prizes distributed

Ms. Poongothai also handed over trophies to champion schools and prizes to winners of individual and group events.

Several thousand students from 24 schools in Chennai and Kancheepuram districts took part in the month-long talent hunt programme. After the preliminaries, the final rounds were held at Government Higher Secondary School in Pallikaranai last week.

Little Buds Alternative Primary School in Panaiyur and Sree Karpagavalli Vidyalaya Middle School in Mylapore won the Talhunt Primary and Middle School Championship Trophies, in addition to Rs.70,000 cash given to the school management for improving their infrastructure.

The event was the culmination of a month-long talent hunt programme organised by employees of Cognizant, as part of Outreach, the IT major’s Corporate Social Responsibility project that was launched in November 2007 to promote education.

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