Govt scores A+ with ‘Smart’ thinking, but gets ‘fail grade’ in implementation

When the Tamil Nadu government announced a slew of attractive schemes for the academic year 2019-20, including one-hour compulsory sports activities, drinking water breaks, special English-speaking classes, setting up of smart classrooms and introduction of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) cards to the students in the State-run schools, appreciations poured in from various quarters for the refreshing initiatives in school education. Unfortunately, most of them remain only on paper as the academic year comes to an end.

The government had decided to open 5,000 smart classrooms in as many State-run schools at a cost of about Rs 200 crore. Accordingly, all the smart classrooms will be equipped with a smart whiteboard, which can also be used to screen video clippings and slideshows. The smart classrooms can also be used to show 3D animation films, graphics, and animated videos to teach all subjects, including Tamil and English, besides providing virtual laboratories for learning science.

However, after the inauguration of the scheme in a few schools in the city, the smart classrooms remain a distant dream for the remaining government and government-aided schools across the State.

A senior official from the School Education Department said the government planned to introduce smart classrooms from the beginning of the academic year. “However, the tender process got delayed as the government could finalise on the company which was supposed to establish smart classrooms”. He said the authorities are trying their level best to at least set up smart classrooms before the next academic year.

The School Education Department had laid out an ambitious plan to issue smart cards to more than 90 lakh students of State-run schools from the academic year 2019-20 at a cost of Rs 20 crore. The scheme was announced at the beginning of the academic year. Accordingly, authorities had collected all the details of the students from both government and private schools and compiled it in the Educational Management Information System (EMIS).

The idea was to ensure students’ safety and keep parents informed about their ward’s activities. Students would have to wear the smart ID cards to school and at all entry and exit points in the government school, which would be equipped with Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) scanners. When a student enters or leaves the school, the scanners would automatically read the microchip data and shoot a message to his/her parents. A senior School Directorateofficial said the project has two main components — RFID scanners and ID cards fitted with microchips.

“The smart card should contain all the required details. Otherwise, the purpose will not be served. An SMS will be sent to the parent’s registered phone number whenever the student enters and exits the school,” he said.

Blaming the school authorities for the project not taking off, the official said during the final verification of the students’ data, it was found that many vital details such as parent’s name, address, phone number among other things were missing in the information provided by the schools.

He said the government’s plan for issuing similar identity cards for teachers in government and government-aided schools too could not be implemented as per the schedule. “The smart card is expected to be distributed to both students and teachers only by June 2020,” he said.

A Government Order issued by the School Education Department recently stated that there will be one-hour compulsory physical activities for the students studying from Classes 6 to 12 daily, apart from the regular physical education periods scheduled twice a week. Accordingly, the one-hour session will be divided into a 15-minute activity before the daily morning assembly prayers and 45 minutes after class hours. The government move to induct physical activities is to reduce the stress of the students. 

However, more than 1,800 government and government-aided schools could not conduct sports activities as there are no physical education teachers.

According to officials from the Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Recruitment Board, currently, 1,865 physical education teacher posts are lying vacant across the State. He said the Board is in the process of recruiting teachers to fill the vacancies.

Tamil Nadu Physical Education Teachers and Physical Education Directors Association State president S Sankaraperumal pointed out that the recruitment of physical education teachers had been stopped since 2012. He said the schools, which do not have physical education teachers, have converted sports activities’ session into regular classes.

A senior official from the Teachers’ Recruitment Board, however, claimed that his department is in the process of recruiting physical education teachers.

Speaking at the centenary celebrations of Saraswathi Mahal Library in Thanjavur, School Education Minister KA Sengottaiyan announced that about 90,000 schools would have smartboards by December 2019.

However, smartboards were set up only in a few government schools and the announcement remains on paper, said Tamil Nadu Teachers’ Association President PK Ilamaran, who is also a teacher with a State-run school in Chennai.

A senior official from the Directorate of School Education said that though the tender process is over, smartboards are expected to be ready by the next academic year only. 

In a first, the School Education Department had announced that special training will be imparted in English communication for students of State-run high schools from January 2020. However, with most of the teachers lacking English communication skills, the government has decided to first give them a month’s training. Accordingly, the government initiative is now expected to begin in the school from the next academic year only.

Interestingly, only a few government schools follow the ‘drinking water sessions’ for the children to keep them hydrated in the classrooms. “This is because many government schools do not have enough drinking water facilities,” said the Education department official. He, however, was silent on who should be held responsible if a State-run school lacks drinking water facilities. The scheme was announced keeping in mind the students from rural areas and poor background, as many of them do not carry water bottles to the schools.

Same is the case with the much-hyped 24-hour Education Channel launched by the School Education Department. It is the lack of quality programmes that has proved a bane in the case of the channel, said an academician pointing out that the channel is yet to gain popularity with the students.  

According to academicians, while the government’s vision needs to be lauded, the failure in implementing the same points to the lack of planning and detailing before the projects were conceived. “It would be nice to see if at least a few of these announcements turn into a reality at least in the next academic year,” said a senior academician on condition of anonymity.