‘Pa’ arrangement a mirage as 3,800 schools are run with single teacher: PMK president Anbumani

CHENNAI: Pointing out the pros and cons of making students sit in a 'Pa' shaped bench arrangement in classrooms, PMK president Anbumani Ramadoss urged the State government first to construct more classrooms and appoint adequate teachers.

The PMK leader stated that the State government must first set its priorities right. A sufficient number of teachers and additional classrooms are needed to ensure quality education, he said, pointing out that as many as 3,800 primary schools have only one teacher per institution. In such a set-up, one teacher is forced to handle five classes each, he said. The remaining 25,618 primary and middle schools have an average of 2.5 teachers each. Also, buildings are in poor condition. At least one lakh classrooms should be constructed and 1 lakh teachers should be appointed to provide quality education," he said.

In a statement, Anbumani said that it is not wrong to arrange the benches in 'Pa' shape. "But there are disadvantages in the arrangement, too. Under the new arrangement, every student will be considered first benchers and teaching will become an interactive process. ‘Pa’ shaped classrooms are feasible only when there are 20 to 24 students in a class, he said, pointing out that the teaching strategy is meant for small classrooms.

Moreover, students have to keep their heads turned all the time to see the boards, making it inconvenient, Anbumani said. This may cause neck pain for students, he added, noting that wards may lose concentration as they are sitting in opposite directions.