Government kindergarten schools to be on par with private institutions

A senior official from ICDS told DT Next on Monday that the government has kept an ambitious target to admit at least one lakh kids in pre-KG schools in the coming academic year. "In order to attain the target, the government has also decided to provide high-quality educational kits to the children who come to study LKG and UKG in Anganwadi centres," he added.

Stating that all classrooms will be equipped with high-quality table and chairs, the official said, "The six-seater table chair kit will be made out of Virgin Grade Linear Low-Density Polyethylene (LLDPE) material by rotational moulding process so that children can sit comfortably and use the table to draw, write and play."

He said more than 15,000 such table-chair kits will be purchased through a tender process. "In addition, kids' puzzle mat with English alphabets will also available in the classrooms," he said adding that the alphabets’ shape in each piece will be colourful and easy to be handled by the children.

According to the official, all the classroom walls will have big and colourful images of fruits, flowers and animals so that children can easily learn. He said the curriculum, termed as "Aadi padi vilayadu papa” caters to 11 monthly themes from June to April. "Uniforms, which will be distributed to the kids, will be on par with corporate schools," the official said.

In a bid to retain the students till Class 12, the Tamil Nadu government has decided to introduce Montessori education based kindergarten classes at the Anganwadi centres.

Accordingly, a total of 2,381 Anganwadi centres across the State will have LKG and UKG classes. The government has allocated Rs 7.73 crore for this new scheme, which will be implemented on a pilot basis for four years.