From this year, all teachers and students of government schools who maintain 100 per cent attendance will get a certificate appreciating their effort. The government had set aside Rs. 5 lakh for this scheme.
Taking forward its effort to improve attendance in tribal schools, the school education department has further allocated Rs. 12.58 crore for a scheme to transport the students to and from school, School Education Minister P. Benjamin announced on Tuesday. He said often children in hill areas were unable to reach their school and hence the government would not only provide transportation but also a guide who would travel with them. This would benefit 10,000 students, he said.
A. Chakrapani of Tamil Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare Department’s Teachers and Wardens’ Association said often children in rural and tribal areas drop out as their parents are ignorant of the benefits of education of their children. “The government provides them food and we sometimes have to send our watchman to bring the children to school. The proposal had been discussed as there is no other option but to have someone to bring the students to school,” he said.
The government also proposes to stock each of the 32 district central libraries with two sets of English and Tamil medium textbooks for class six to 12, conceding to request from library users and the government had allocated Rs. 9 lakh for the same. The school education department has set aside Rs. 21 crore to continue its three-year-old scheme of educating children of migrant labourers. It has so far benefited 20,000 students, Mr. Benjamin said.
