Minister for School Education Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi said on Saturday that 18,000 classrooms would be constructed in five years at a cost of ₹7,000 crore.
He inspected the Puliyankadai panchayat union primary school at Yercaud. Later, he handed over the administrative order to Chief Educational Officer R. Murugan for building classrooms at the Puliyankadai and Narayanathadanur primary schools and the Senkaradu middle school in Yercaud at a cost of ₹75 lakh.
Mr. Poyyamozhi told reporters that the Chief Minister had ordered that more importance be attached to schools in hill stations. “So we are inspecting government schools in hill stations, including those in Udhagamandalam and Valparai. The unsafe school buildings will be demolished in Yercaud and new classrooms will be constructed. Students will be shifted to nearby schools till then. So far, unsafe buildings and toilets at 10,031 schools have been demolished.”
“Under the Perasiriyar Anbazhagan School Development Scheme, 18,000 classrooms and toilets will be constructed in five years at a cost of ₹7,000 crore. This year, ₹1,300 crore has been sanctioned. As many as 2,500 schools that are functioning without adequate classrooms will get priority,” he said.
Online classes
Answering a question about the Kallakurichi private school, where violence occurred following the death of a girl student, Mr. Poyyamozhi said certificates of 3,000 students had been gutted. Online classes for all students began on Wednesday and 81% of the students were attending them. For students of Class IX to Class XII, in-person classes would soon start at a private college functioning in a four-km radius. As many as 907 students were willing to join other schools.
Asked about free laptops for students, he said 11.75 lakh laptops would be distributed.
“We are planning to recruit 10,300 teachers across the State,” he said.
