Municipal schools in the 13 districts of Andhra Pradesh will be equipped with computer labs by the next academic year.
“The Municipal Administration Department is gearing up to establish computer labs in each Upper Primary and High School by the fresh academic year. Each school will get 40 computers and examinations and evaluation of answer sheets will be held online,” said K. Chittibabu, consultant to the education wing of the Municipal Administration Department.
The schools have already started using OMR sheets for examinations to help students get used to this mode of pattern. Municipal schools have also started implementing career foundation course, and addition of computer labs will help teachers train the students to write competitive examinations at the national and international levels, say officials.
The average strength of a class in these schools is 40, and availability of as many computers in the lab would enable the students to make use of the latest technology on a rotation basis, it is felt.
Following constant efforts to improve the education standards, the strength of these schools has seen an improvement of late.
There are 1.47 lakh children studying in classes 1 to 5, and 1.25 lakh students from classes 6 to 10 in the municipal schools across the State. There is a slight discrepancy in the administration part of these schools.
Though the State has 110 urban local bodies (ULBs), only 59 of them have schools that are administered by the Municipal Administration wing. The remaining schools come under either mandal parishad or zilla parishad, and are deprived of the facilities enjoyed by the schools maintained by the municipal wing.
“This is because these schools are set up in the rural areas, which are later merged in urban or suburban segments,” explains Mr. Chittibabu.
