The Greater Chennai Corporation has resumed modernisation of its schools at an estimated cost of ₹61.7 crore.
According to a press release by GCC Commissioner Gagandeep Singh Bedi, the civic body has invited bids for modernisation of schools in eight locations, including Nungambakkam, MGR Nagar, Shenoy Nagar and Kottur under Singara Chennai 2.0. Work on schools at six locations has already begun.
Work on another 12 schools in areas such as Saidapet and Alwarpet will be taken up shortly.
The adoption of modern technology and smart classroom facilities is expected to increase in the number of students in the Chennai Corporation schools.
The number of students in the schools had come down from 1.3 lakh to 87, 000 in the past few years. The civic body has launched initiatives to improve facilities in the corporation schools. The modernisation programme was taken up before 2014 with support from countries such as Finland. After the launch of Smart Cities Mission in 2015, the civic body improved the smart classroom facilities in the past few years in some of the schools. Currently, it is planning to implement smart classroom facilities in all higher secondary schools. The facilities will be developed in 281 schools in a phased manner.