Planning to bunk classes? Edu dept SMS will nail you
A School Education Department official told DT Next that students’ absence has become an issue for the teachers with no proper mechanism to address the issue.
CHENNAI: Bunking classes may not be an easy task for government school students in the State anymore. For, before they reach home, their parents would have got message on their phone on their child’s truant behaviour.
The School Education Department’s ‘SMS move’ came against the backdrop of widespread complaints about students of government and government-aided high and higher secondary schools bunking classes without parents’ knowledge.
At present, about 37,400 government schools in the categories of primary, middle, high and higher secondary schools are functioning in State, catering to over 44 lakh students. Similarly, there are about 8,300 government-aided schools where around 22 lakh students pursue studies.
A School Education Department official told DT Next that students’ absence has become an issue for the teachers with no proper mechanism to address the issue. “Currently, attendance is marked on the ‘TNSED Attendance’ app, details of which are not shared with parents,” he said.
“The Education department, from this year, will bring all government and aided schools under a new management system under which the absentees’ information will be shared with parents through SMS,” he added.
Stating that authorities are also planning to share assessments and performance of the students in a similar way, the official said the new system aimed to get cordial relationships between schools and parents.
Pointing out that most all the parents were using at least basic mobile models even in rural areas, he said, “SMS will be sent to the number, registered in the Education Management Information System (EMIS), a common online platform that connects schools, teachers and students”.
The official said the message will be in a fixed format in Tamil: “Hello dear parents, your son/daughter “name” did not come to school. Please provide the reason to the class teacher. Thanks. Tamil Nadu School Education Department”. Slowly, the same will be sent in English depending on the requirements of the parents.
According to the official, the new SMS system will cover the entire State in a phased manner on the basis of feedback and suggestions sought from the local government bodies. “The authorities were discussing the allocation of funds for the new scheme,” he said.
