Villupuram district that has been the butt of ridicule in the public discourse and during the recent Lok Sabha election campaign for its not-so-good academic performance has proved its critics wrong.
In the just released Plus Two results the district has shown its rich potential by attaining 85.18 pass percentage, which is 7.15 per cent higher than what was achieved — 78.03 per cent — last year.
Chief Educational Officer S. Mars told The Hindu that it could be possible because the government schools in the district had done exceedingly well. Of the 159 government schools in the district at least nine had produced over 95 per cent results.
Not less than 55 students of the government girls’ higher secondary schools in Villupuram, Thirukkoilur and Sankarapuram blocks had obtained 1,000 and above marks (for 1,200) in the examinations. Even the borderline students who were branded as definite failures got through with substantial marks. The government schools that ended up poorly with 45 per cent and less results last year perked up their performance this year to attain 85 per cent and above.
Mr. Mars said that this could be possible because of the various measures taken by the Education Department in full coordination with the headmasters, teaching community, students and parents.
An analysis of the results for the past few years had shown that the students hailing from poor economic background had a notion that subjects like mathematics, commerce, accountancy and botany were tough to clear. Therefore, special classes were organised for the students.
Moreover, the headmasters had been given the discretionary powers to appoint teachers on a consolidated pay to run the classes without any hiccup. These student-friendly exercises received good response. What really paid off was the advance planning in which the revenue district had been divided into 24 centres, each centre consisting of at least 10 schools, to impart special coaching to the weak students.
The rice mill owners and other trading communities had chipped in by supplying the essentials for the preparation of food to be served free of cost to the students undergoing crash courses in those 24 centres.
Mr. Mars pointed out that Rural Industries Minister P. Mohan on his own accord had funded to the tune of Rs. 1.50 lakh for printing the study materials and sent greeting cards motivating 75,000 students.
