The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : SSA should focus on out-of-school children: report

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Thursday, Feb 07, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

SSA should focus on out-of-school children: report

Meera Srinivasan

CHENNAI: Bringing the remaining 1,00,000-plus out-of-school children into the system, filling the remaining vacancies of teachers, further empowering village education committees, eliminating the remaining infrastructure gaps and improving the quality of education are some key challenges in the State’s implementation of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education For All Movement).

Michael Ward, Member of the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, and Government of India representative C.S. Nagaraju recently submitted a report on the progress of the Abhiyan in the State. Part of the seventh Joint Review Mission to evaluate the State’s performance, the report was compiled after the two-member team visited Erode, Dharmapuri, Tiruvannamalai and Villupuram districts to gather information and feedback on the impact of SSA projects.

In their report, the members have said: “The Mission got a strong sense that the State is on the move with regard to quality improvement, and the introduction of Activity-Based Learning (ABL) in all primary schools and the Active Learning Methodology (ALM) in all upper primary schools has stimulated and excited officials, teachers, students and parents in an unprecedented way.”

As for the number of out-of-school children, it says Krishnagiri, Namakkal and Salem districts account for almost a quarter of such children. The Mission suggests that the SSA plan for them in Tamil Nadu, focussing on blocks rather than districts.

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