Tiruchi Corporation has sent a proposal to the State government, seeking permission to start kindergarten classes in schools run by it.
The civic body runs 61 schools, including primary and middle schools, in different parts of the city. While it takes care of creating infrastructure and maintenance of the schools, the State government pays salaries to the teaching and non-teaching staff.
The Corporation spends about ₹.20 crore per year on creating infrastructure, adding new facilities, replacing equipment, among other things. It also spends about 20% of its annual allotment towards repairs and maintenance of the buildings.
The strength of pupils in Corporation schools from primary to higher secondary level is said to have gone up over the past two years. Similarly, there have been demands for introduction of lower kindergarten (LKG) and upper kindergarten (UKG) in the schools run by the Corporation.
Cutting across party lines, councillors of various political parties have urged the Corporation to take steps to start LKG and UKG classes in recent meetings of the Council so as to enable economically backward parents in the city limit to enrol their wards in kindergarten classes. The Corporation too in the budget proposal for 2022-23 revealed its plan to start kindergarten classes in schools run by it.
As a sequel to it, the Corporation has sent a proposal to the Directorate of Municipal Administration and the School Education Department to accord permission to introduce kindergarten classes.
M. Anbazhagan, Mayor, Tiruchi Corporation, told The Hindu that the civic body had received a number of representations seeking introduction of kindergarten classes. A file had been submitted to the State government, seeking approval for it. Action would be taken to build the infrastructure once the government gave its nod. He would soon have a discussion with officials on selecting locations.
A sum of ₹20 crore would be spent on upgrading classrooms on a par with private schools, establishing smart classrooms, repairing anganwadi centres and building sanitary infrastructure to the needy schools during the current year, he added.
