Clear understanding of subjects while learning is the effective way of acquiring knowledge by students rather than simply memorizing concepts for scoring high marks in the examinations, G. Arivoli, Director of School Education, said on Friday.
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Speaking at the annual Support The Advancement of Rural Students (STARS) Orientation 2023, which was organised by VIT on its campus here, Mr. Arivoli said that along with clear subject learning, students should also connect concepts in the subject with each other for better and easier understanding. “The State government school syllabus is on a par with CBSE and matriculation syllabus in terms of quality education. For example, only six questions in NEET examinations were out of the syllabus of the State text books,” he said.
Responding to G. Viswanathan, founder and chancellor, VIT, who stressed for better training for teachers in the State, the School Education director said that the State government has spent around ₹400 crore in the past two years on training teachers. Currently, two rounds of training for teachers in the State have been completed. Apart from imparting skills for teachers, the administration of each school is also being monitored by the Department to increase the enrolment, he said.
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In his presidential address, G. Viswanathan said that the Union government should increase the allocation of funds for higher education from the existing three per cent of GDP to six percent to bring more rural students into higher studies. As far as the State government is concerned, steps to increase the enrolment in government schools should be vigorously pursued. For example, of the total 58,000 schools including State-run schools, around 11,000 schools run with only 30 students each. Among 390 schools in the State that have at least 1,000 students each, only six schools are government schools. “To increase the enrolment in government schools, government employees should lead by example by admitting their wards in these schools,” he said.
Highlighting the importance of higher education, Mr. Viswanathan said that the country has been lagging far behind when compared to developed countries in higher education to all. As per Gross Enrollment Ratio (GEE), India has only 27% of its population pursuing higher education compared to the USA (88%), Japan (65%) and South Korea (100%). In per capita income, which is used to measure Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), India’s per capita income is only $2,500 whereas for other three countries it is $70,00, $39,000 and $35,000 respectively. This emphasises the need to fund more on higher education to improve the economic condition in the country, he said.
On the occasion, Sankar Viswanatzhan, Vice President, VIT and K.M. Suceendran, Techno HR Leader, TCS, were present.