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Producing better citizens

The formative years are vital for the future development of a child

PHOTO: K.R. DEEPAK

DISCIPLINE IS THE WATCHWORD A school should strive for allround development of the child

A school should train the young minds to face the challenges ahead in life with confidence apart from regular classroom lessons. Modern research has shown that a child's physical, emotional and intellectual development mostly takes place between three and 10 years of age.

These formative years are vital for the future development and growth of a child. Teachers should be able to spot the latent talents in the child and strive to nourish their strengths while helping them in overcoming their weaknesses. A vast majority of teachers seem to be content with teaching children what is there in their textbooks. In other words they are content with completing the syllabus.

The best bet

There are over 4,000 schools in the district and parents are often in a dilemma in selecting the best one to admit their child. A school with an impeccable track record, an optimum teacher-student ratio, availability of qualified teachers, spacious classrooms, facilities for extra-curricular activities like gardening, chalk-making, dance, a library with a good number of books, laboratories and playgrounds for promoting sports and games are among the criteria that parents would be the best bet.

Many of the schools do not even have playgrounds. Some are located in commercial areas and busy road junctions where there is high noise pollution. The plight of the pupil in concentrating on the lessons amidst the din caused by the honking of automobiles plying on the road can well be imagined.

Many of the so called `convent schools' which have sprung up in every nook and corner of the city, often recruit unqualified teachers and sometimes do not have adequate number of teachers to deal with the growing number of students. It is better to visit the schools and find out for oneself instead of going by the tall claims made by almost all schools prior to the commencement of the academic calendar every year.

Schools galore

There are a total of 4,234 schools including private ones in the district. Of these 3,080 are primary schools, 622 upper primary schools and rest are high schools. There are 14 higher secondary schools which follow the CBSE and ICSE syllabus.

"There is no shortage of textbooks for supply to the Government Schools in the State. Of the 33 lakh textbooks required for supply to these schools in the district, 31 lakhs have already been received and the remaining textbooks are expected to be received in the next few days," the District Education Officer R. Surender Reddy said.

"The books which are yet to be received are the multi-colour books meant for Std. I, II and III. These books were ordered for printing in Sivakasi in Tamil Nadu and are expected to be received in a few days," he says.

"The order for printing of textbooks meant for use by private schools has been given to three publishers in the district. There seems to be a shortage of books meant for Std. VI and IX," says the DEO.

The English advantage

A sound knowledge of the English language would enable the future citizens to compete with their counterparts in other parts of the globe and earn lucrative positions in Multi National Companies and Business Process Outsourcing (BPOs). A child who studies in an English medium school would have an advantage over his counterparts in Telugu-medium schools. This is not to say that children who study in Telugu medium schools cannot compete for positions in MNCs and BPOs. A good number of institutes have come up which help these children in gaining command over spoken and written English.

Experts feel that the objective of school education should be to encourage independence and creativity by providing the child with opportunities for self-expression, to develop a child's ability to express his thoughts and feelings without any ambiguity and to develop in the child a good physique, adequate muscular coordinator and motor skills.

The President APJ Abdul Kalam, during his recent interaction with school children at the NSTL, was candid enough to admit that he owes his success to his teachers at school. He was of the firm belief that the seeds of inquisitiveness sown in the early stages could immensely contribute to the future growth and development of the individual and the nation as a whole.

B. MADHU GOPAL

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