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Education

AMC to evaluate performances of standard V and VII students

Wednesday, 27 November 2013 11:39 administrator
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The Times of India            27.11.2013

AMC to evaluate performances of standard V and VII students

AURANGABAD: To improve the educational standard in its schools, the Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) will now evaluate the performance of students in classes V and VII, starting next month.

On Tuesday, A M Shaikh, education officer in the AMC said that writing, reading and mathematical problem-solving abilities of the students will be judged through a questionnaire.

"We have undertaken a slew of measures to bring in a change in teaching patterns in civic schools. Teachers have been asked to follow a specific time-table from the new academic session. Students have been provided with books and other material. In addition to this, municipal commissioner Harshdeep Kamble has also visited some of the AMC-run schools and reviewed the teaching methodology," Shaikh said.

About 19,000 students are currently enrolled in 78 schools run by the civic body. Of these, 52 schools offer education up to the primary level (from Class I to Class VII), while there are only 23 higher primary level (Class VI to Class VIII) schools.

So, while Class V and Class VIII students should have been ideally evaluated, to get the highest representative sample for both categories, Class VII has been chosen instead.

"From the primary school category (classes I to VII), we have planned to involve students of Class V, while from the higher primary (classes VI to VIII) we will be conducting the test for Class VII students," Shaikh said.

Shaikh said the civic body was looking forward to analyzing the impact of its initiatives through the evaluation. "A special team of teachers and head-masters have been set up for the purpose. The team will visit all AMC schools and randomly select students in Standard V and VII for the evaluation," he said.

"The AMC may replicate the process for students in other classes, if required," Shaikh said.

 

PMC school board seeks corporate help

Tuesday, 26 November 2013 11:08 administrator
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The Times of India         26.11.2013

PMC school board seeks corporate help

PUNE: With the shadow of a financial crisis looming large over the civic budget for the next fiscal, the Pune Municipal Corporation's (PMC) school board has decided to seek corporate help for the smooth functioning of its schools.

Ravindra Chaudhari, newly-elected chairman of the school board, on Monday said: "There are signs that the annual civic budget is going to face a crunch. In this situation, we are not sure how much funds will be allocated to the school board. Therefore, we have decided to seek help of corporate houses to cater to the needs of civic schools."

The board has already approached some companies, who Chaudhari said have expressed their willingness to help. "We will ask them to shoulder some responsibilities such as beautification of the school premises and providing educational material. We want to ensure that students don't suffer due to budget constrains."

The PMC runs as many as 320 schools in the city, including Marathi, English and Urdu medium. More than 1 lakh students study in these schools. "I am going to take up the issue with the Mahratta Chamber of Commerce Industries and Agriculture (MCCIA) officials. I hope MCCIA to help the school board. Corporate help will enable us to bring these schools on par with private ones," said Chaudhari.

Chaudhari admitted that students passing out of PMC-run primary schools find it difficult to get admissions in private secondary schools. "We are planning to start more secondary schools because private educational institutes are denying admission to PMC school students. We are also going to talk with private school administrations in this regard," he said.

 

GVMC enrolls destitute children into schools

Tuesday, 26 November 2013 11:02 administrator
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The Times of India         26.11.2013

GVMC enrolls destitute children into schools

VISAKHAPATNAM: The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) has initiated efforts to educate children of destitute people who stay in its night shelters in the city. To begin with, six of them have already been enrolled in a municipal school at Dwarakanagar over the last two days.

The six students, including two girls, are children of destitutes that take shelter at the TSR Complex in the city. While two students each have been enrolled in class III and IV, one each have been enrolled in Class V and VI.

GVMC deputy educational officer Lakshmi Narasa claimed the initiative is a novel concept adopted by the civic body under the Right to Education Act that mandates compulsory education for children below 14 years.

"We have just started work on the concept. We will soon identify children in night shelters with the help of an NGO and try to enroll them in GVMC schools. However, GVMC can provide only education to the children and not hostel facility as it doesn't have any residential schools or hostels," Lakshmi told TOI.

At present, 143 destitute people who migrated from various parts of the state as well as neighbouring states such as Odisha stay in the two night shelters in the city at Bheemnagar, which accommodates 65 people, and TSR Complex, which provides shelter to 78 people, said Association for Regional Tribal Development (ARTD) urban wing secretary Pragada Srinivasu.

"Many people migrated to the city because of family disputes and other reasons. ARTD, in association with GVMC, put all these wandering destitutes in the two night shelters and ensured daily wage employment. However, to prevent their children from taking up labour work or becoming beggars, we have identified six children so far and enrolled them in a GVMC school. Four other children are yet to join school," Srinivasu told TOI.

He also appealed to the GVMC to provide those taking shelter at their night shelters basic amenities such as blankets, buckets and recreation facilities according to Supreme Court guidelines. The association has also appealed to the corporation to sanction voter identity cards and ration cards to such people.

GVMC commissioner MV Satyanarayana held a meeting to review the running of the night shelters and gave an assurance that the civic body would soon set up three more night shelters in different parts of the city such as Collectorate Area, Dandubazaar and Dabagardens at a cost of Rs 80 lakh.

 
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