Three schools of the Chennai Corporation have set in motion the process of getting accreditation from the Quality Council of India for their key processes such as conduct of classes and examinations, teaching methods, utilisation of resources, safety and health and hygiene.
The Corporation Higher Secondary School in Choolaimedu and a high school each in Sharma Nagar and Kolathur have been chosen. The CII Institute of Quality and the Kuruvila Jacob Initiative for Promoting Excellence in School Education, an MCCHS Alumni Initiative, are involved in the programme.
Corporation Commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni said that efforts were under way to get the accreditation before the beginning of the next academic year. “The Kuruvila Jacob Initiative and CII Institute have helped organise students into groups, bring discipline into the schools, improve ambience and involve the parents. In the process, they have helped improve results. Starting with three schools, we will seek accreditation for other schools as well.”
Senior counsellor at CII Institute of Quality A. Senthilkumaran said: “What we have done is to create an environment for learning. Counsellors from the institute only train the teachers, who in turn translate their learning at the schools.”
Parent talk sessions have also been organised in the three schools where parents come and discuss about their vocation. There have been mothers talking about selling ‘idlies’ and juice for a living and fathers who stitch bags.
Beena Gopinath, project coordinator, Kuruvila Jacob Initiative, said that starting in June 2005 the initiative had covered two clusters of 10 Corporation schools each. “We had worked with them for 18 months each. These three schools have been chosen from those 20 in which we have completed work. We are presently working with 10 more schools under the third cluster.”
