Smart Schools project likely to get delayed

Students of five schools the Coimbatore Corporation had chosen for development under the Smart Cities Mission will have to wait longer, it appears.

The ₹27.51 crore project is to improve infrastructure and teaching-learning experience in the Corporation Elementary School on Sir C.V. Raman Road, PVP Elementary School, Corporation Girls Higher Secondary School, West Sambandam Road, Corporation Higher Secondary School, West Arokiya Road and special school for the speech and hearing impaired in R.S. Puram.

Corporation officials said though the civic body had completed the tender process and awarded the contract, it awaited clearance from the Finance Department, which was seized of the matter. The Corporation had sent the proposal for the department only a week ago and it could take a month for the clearance.

This meant that the infrastructure work would not begin in the next couple of months, as the civic body had planned the execution to coincide with summer holidays.

The Corporation had proposed construction of modernised classrooms with projector, interactive white board, digital player and audio system, closed circuit television cameras, kitchen, dining hall, toilet and much more.

To improve the teaching-learning process, the Corporation had envisaged special attention to slow learners, bridge course at various levels – elementary, middle and high and higher secondary, introduction of visual elements like videos, psychological analysis and counselling for students and various curricular and co-curricular activities, besides improving games and sports.

The other improvements the Corporation had planned also included teaching self-defence techniques to students, career guidance and basic computer skills.

The officials said that the Corporation had also readied a proposal to develop 17 more schools at ₹ 122 crore. All the schools that would stand to gain were in wards that were covered under the Area Based Development component of the Mission.

Of the 17 schools, the Corporation had sent a detailed project report to the State Government for approval. Once it received the green signal, it would float the tender. But again, the Corporation would have to wait for the Finance Department's approval because the senior officials were of the opinion that the ₹122 crore estimate worked out to 10 per cent of the Smart Cities Mission allotment for Coimbatore.