A State-level convention on ‘Quality Education for Progressive Tamil Nadu' on Saturday adopted an 11-point resolution, including an appeal to the government to allow schools to choose books of their choice and reconsider its order on the ‘no detention policy' till class VIII.
The convention, organised by various associations of private schools in Tamil Nadu, at St. George Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School grounds in the city was a mammoth gathering of representatives from schools across the State. Various issues were discussed and the speakers underscored the need for the schools to stay united and face the challenges. The resolution also appealed to the government to protect the rights of schools, teachers and students, maintaining quality in ‘Samacheer Kalvi' by adhering to the NCERT syllabus, granting property tax exemption for panchayat school buildings, adopting three-language system and reviewing the fee structure stipulated for private schools.
VIT University Chancellor G. Viswanathan said every new regulation only added to the corruption in a system and eradication of corruption in education was the basic reform that was needed. “What happened to India in 1991 through the liberalisation policy should apply to education in 2011,” he said.
MaFoi Ranstad India MD and CEO K. Pandia Rajan called for measures to improve access to higher education and bring more transparency in the education reforms taking place.
Quoting a study done in private and government schools where a majority of students do not know how to read a sentence or do subtraction, AID India founder Balaji Sampath said that learning quality had not improved. “Government schools need to improve their quality, while private schools should correct their deficiencies,” he added.
Speakers criticised the guidelines of the RTE Act, as they were interfering with their freedom to run schools the way they wished to. The fee structure stipulated for all private schools was also condemned.
Independent CBSE School Management Association president M. Srinivasan said governments should compare research undertaken by countries such as Australia and bring in changes accordingly. He said the government should facilitate methodologies such as the ‘Theory of Multiple Intelligence' for holistic development of students in a class.
Founder-president of the National Federation of Unaided Schools Damodar Goyal said it was quality that was driving children to private schools. “In Kerala, 54 per cent of children are going to private schools, while in Tamil Nadu it is 25 per cent,” he said.
