The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Government to form educational clusters

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 24, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Government to form educational clusters

Staff Reporter

Government plans to restructure education system

ANSWERING QUERIES: Minister for Education M.A. Baby at a personality development camp organised by the Centre for Adult Continuing Education and Extension in the city on Monday. Photo: S. Gopakumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Minister for Education M.A. Baby has said the Government will constitute educational clusters to appoint specialist teachers in music, yoga and physical education.

He was responding to a query from a student of music at a personality development camp organised by the Centre for Adult Continuing Education and Extension in the city on Monday.

Varsha, a final-year postgraduate student at the Department of Music told the Minister that qualified candidates in the subject seldom received due recognition in society.

"Music is looked upon as a subject for relaxation. Even though we have the necessary qualification, our role is often limited to singing prayer songs for special occasions," she told the Minister.

Acknowledging the situation, Mr. Baby said the Government was discussing the possibility of forming educational clusters comprising two or three schools in a region and appointing specialists teachers for them.

Competitive exams

Sajin, a student of Christ Nagar School, Kowdiar, wanted to know whether children studying in CBSE schools had an edge over their counterparts in Government schools when it comes to appearing for competitive examinations. "The feeling that all CBSE schools are great is not true," the Minister said. People like Amartya Sen, K.G. Balakrishnan and C.V. Raman did not study in CBSE schools," he said.

"The point is how you imbibe knowledge and successfully apply it in practical situations. We need more cutting edge training facilities to prepare the students for competitive examinations."

The Minister said the Government would restructure the education system. This would be the objective of the newly constituted Higher Education Council, he said. Sixty students from various city schools who have completed their Class X examination took part in the camp. The two-month programme will conclude on May 31.

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