A university-school bridge
Stepping into an era of academic excellence... Periyar Maniammai Centenary Memorial Matriculation Higher Secondary School. Photo: R.M. Rajarathinam
A PIONEERING initiative of the Bharathidasan University to assess and accredit volunteering schools through its School Linkage Cell (SLC) took shape recently with the accreditation of the Periyar Maniammai Centenary Memorial Matriculation Higher Secondary School in the city, with `Five Star' status.
The accreditation process was introduced on the lines of the procedures adopted by the National Assessment and Accreditation Committee (NAAC), to identify strengths and weaknesses of the schools, and offer suggestions for a quality drive, against the backdrop of intense competition. The seven parameters for assessment were:
* the school's objectives in cognitive, affective and psychomotor domain
* curricular and co-curricular activities
* instructional strategies and practice
* leadership and school organisation
* school resources for learning
* community resources for learning, and assessment, feedback
* counselling mechanism.
The school was awarded the `Five Star' status, based on factors such as transparency in administration, extending education to less-privileged people, providing quality education at less cost, and providing free transport facilities to students.
The assessment was undertaken by a three-member panel comprising eminent educationists, comprising the former Vice-Chancellor of the Gandhigram Rural Institute, Pankajam, academician, S.S. Rajagopalan, and the Regional Joint Director of Collegiate Education, Coimbatore, K. Kumarasamy.
Conceptualised by the Vice-Chancellor, C. Thangamuthu, the school accreditation process has earned encomiums from the Directorate of School Education and the National Council for Educational and Research Training (NCERT), the national apex body for school education, for being the first of its kind initiative in the country, according to R. Karpagakumaravel, Head, Department of Educational Technology, Bharathidasan University, who coordinates the activities of the SLC. In the first phase, six more schools will be accredited by August 2005.
Eight years after the National Policy on Education was evolved in 1986 to enhance quality in higher education and school education, the NAAC came into being, aimed at quality assurance in universities and colleges. But no such mechanism had been created for schools as yet, and hence the university had plans to formalise the structure of the SLC to widen the geographical ambit and make it a self-sustaining and autonomous, free from bureaucratic influence, the Vice-Chancellor said, after handing over the accreditation document to the school authorities.
He advocated implementation of the `Neighbourhood School System' recommended by the Kothari Commission in 1964, for bridging the quality gap between schools in urban and rural areas, while assuring that the SLC would assess the government, aided, and self-financing schools from their respective perspectives.
The initiative, says Dr. Karpagakumaravel, is a pragmatic approach towards being assured of quality inputs for higher education.
R. Krishnamoorthy
Printer friendly
page
Send this article to Friends by
E-Mail
Education Plus
Karnataka
Chennai
Coimbatore
Hyderabad
Madurai
Tiruchirapalli
Vijayawada
Visakhapatnam
