With a new academic year set to begin next month, the city Corporation is gearing up to improve school infrastructure and give a fillip to academic standards in schools.
Besides annual maintenance, tender proceedings for setting up smart classrooms with tiled floors in schools were under way, Corporation Health Standing Committee chairperson S. Unnikrishnan said.
The Corporation, he said, was looking at setting up new school buildings for only a couple of institutions, as most part of the project was being taken up by the government.
New lines were being provided in schools that had asked for them to improve availability of water. On the basis of information furnished by teachers and school parent-teacher associations, the civic body had also decided to provide new toilets to schools that had sought these.
A district reference library would be set up at Government Vocational and Higher Secondary School for Girls, Manacaud. Plans had been prepared for a building and other facilities for the library, Mr. Unnikrishnan said.
The civic body was also concerned about lack of facilities for extracurricular activities such as arts and sports in schools.
School buildings were being promoted by schools and PTAs at the expense of such facilities, he said. Replacing old building with new ones was under way at Karamana girls school, he said.
Similar work would also be taken up at SMV school and the Manacaud school to provide space for the school grounds.
Schools too are rushing to put facilities in place before the reopening day. At Government Model Higher Secondary School for Boys, Thycaud, basketball and volleyball courts for the students are coming up. Work on a government project to set up a computer lab and conference hall in one of the school buildings is on.
Mathematics lab
A Mathematics lab will also be set up by former students of the school. A new master plan was ready to take up second stage work as part of Mission 21C.
This would be submitted to the government, school headmaster Suresh Babu said.
The school, which had seen a 30% increase in admissions last year, was aiming even higher this time, he said.
At Government Higher Secondary School for Girls, Cotton Hill, work on a 51-room new building was on. To address shortage of classrooms, a building with six classrooms, constructed at a cost of ₹1 crore from the MP fund of A.K. Antony, would be inaugurated at Government Higher Secondary School for Girls, Cotton Hill, on school reopening day.
The roof too had been covered to allow for three more classrooms, school headmistress Jessila A.R. said. The city Corporation was also taking up building maintenance.
