Tamil Nadu - Chennai   

93.94% pass out of Class V under SSA programme Teaching & learning

CHENNAI: The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has tracked 8 lakh children in the State, who entered its programme in Class 1 in 2003. This May, 93.94 per cent successfully passed out of Class 5, having benefited from the improved infrastructure, additional teachers and activity-based learning brought about by the project.

“We have improved from last year’s figure of 92.46 per cent and, even more significantly, from the 2005-06 data of 86.55 per cent,” says School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu.

This is the third year that the Cohort study, tracking students’ progress through their years in the SSA programme, has been conducted. For the upper primary section, covering the school years from Class 6 to 8, the completion rate rose to 92.7 per cent this year out of the 9.3 lakh children tracked.

Dissecting the data by districts, the best record comes from Kanyakumari and Chennai in primary and upper primary respectively, while Vellore and Krishnagiri are the worst laggards. Nevertheless, all districts have managed to stay above the 90 per cent mark.

The Minister notes that while the percentage of students who have failed a year or more has also fallen — from 6.14 to 4.84 per cent in the primary section and from 6.67 to 5.41 per cent in the upper primary — it is still a cause of concern.

“That is the area we must now focus on. Special attention needs to be given to this small group of students. We don’t want them to be left out.”

He says teachers will be motivated to find out the root problem in the case of each failing child and ensure that each student receives individual attention.

The good news is that these children chose to remain within the SSA system despite their failure, rather than dropping out of school. The drop-out rate has also been pared down from 1.4 to 1.23 per cent in the primary and from 2.04 to 1.9 per cent in the upper primary.

“We now have the numbers. The focus needs to be on quality,” says Mr. Thennarasu.

He lists the appointment of teachers and re-orientation of infrastructure as items high on next year’s agenda. There is also a need to continue with the elements that have made the State’s SSA programme successful so far: an interesting, child-centric learning process, change in the classroom atmosphere, opportunities for extra-curricular activities and a better physical environment in schools.

SSA officials also suggest that spoken English and computer education will be two of the most important initiatives next year.

Thursday’s full-scale launch of the ‘Simply English’ project, which involves distribution of bilingual CDs to schools to promote listening and speaking skills and the ongoing distribution of television sets with DVD players to 36,150 government schools, is expected to propel this agenda. About 80 per cent of the thrust next year will be on English teaching, says a senior SSA official.

With over 5,600 schools also receiving computer infrastructure, plans are also under way for all SSA teachers to be given intensive training in computer education during April and May 2009, so that they will be ready to train students during the next academic year, say officials.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

‘Jalmani’ to be launched on November 14
Young World Painting contest
All about a dreamer, an achiever
Arthroscopy and sports injury clinic inaugurated
Anti-corruption pledge marks launch of Vigilance Awareness Week
Overcoming challenges academically
Now storytelling for tourism promotion
Meet on quota for Arundatiyars
Heads of missions meet Chief Secretary
Parties urged to speak in one voice on Tamils issue
More than Rs.2 crore collected on Tuesday
Questions remain unanswered, says Jayalalithaa
AISF march to Parliament House
‘Khumki’ Khaleem still rules the roost
Parties urged to speak in one voice on Tamils issue
Awareness of toxicology must for public: expert
Ambattur and Avadi municipalities to act tough on smoking ban violators
Vehicle alteration permitted for persons with disabilities
‘AutoServe’ to kick off on November 7
Media consultation initiative on HIV/AIDS held
An expedition fully geared with missionary zeal
eZone launched
Job fair on Saturday
To know the earth’s extremes, visit ‘Story of Poles’
Girl commits self-immolation, boyfriend held
Cash missing
Higher vegetable prices eat into family budget
93.94% pass out of Class V under SSA programme Teaching & learning
Rain played spoilsport with cultivation
Craters on roads in northern suburbs pose greater problems
Park to come up off Wall Tax Road
Power shutdown tomorrow
LIBA-Dayton University competition for students
Study of road accidents’ causes planned
Stage set for establishing Common Service Centre in Chennai
Convert global depression into an opportunity: Assocham chief
Government effects shuffle of IAS officers
In Chennai Today

Copyright © 2008, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu