The Coimbatore Corporation plans to add another feather to its cap, this time on the education front.
Eight of its 85 schools will get ISO certification this year, if plans underway are anything to go by. Corporation Education Officer S. Somasundari told The Hindu that Ramakrishnapuram, R.S. Puram West, R.S. Puram East, R.S. Puram Boys, Siddhapudur Boys, Ranganathapuram, Rathinapuri and Oppanakara Street schools had been selected to undergo various procedures to obtain the certification.
The move is the latest of the civic body's efforts to improve the quality of education. “Though the certification will not say anything directly on the quality of education, it will ensure that the systems and practices required for improving the quality are in place,” said Commissioner Ansul Mishra.
Teachers would be on time for classes.
A teacher's absence would lead to another one automatically take charge without waiting for the school head's intervention.
Teaching and learning aids would be as per specifications and the whole school management would undergo an overhaul, he explained.
“This is because the problem is not about what to teach, but how to teach and that is what the civic body hopes to address by getting the ISO certification.”
The Corporation would also make improvements to the teaching methodology.
This would be in addition to techniques being implemented through the Education for All (Sarva Siksha Abiyan) scheme.
As part of the school-improvement programme, management information system (MIS) would also be implemented.
“School records will be computerised, which will bring in professionalism and transparency,” Mr. Mishra said.
At present the Corporation was preparing the ISO training manual in association with the consultant hired for the purpose.
The manual would say what needed to be done, based on a gap analysis. And, once the training was over, the consultant would carry out an audit to suggest course correction.
At the end of the process, the schools would be ISO certified. “We hope to get the certification by December this year,” he added.
