Giving away the renewal of recognition certificates to 360 nursery and primary schools from Dindigul, Madurai, Theni and Sivaganga districts here, School Education Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan said that the State government issued the certificates every three years.
Speaking at a function where Forest Minister Dindigul C Srinivasan, Collector M. Vijayalakshmi, MLAs and officials were present, he said that from 37 districts in the State, 5,946 nursery and primary schools run by private managements were given renewal of recognition certificates every three years.
The State government, under the Edappadi K Palaniswami's rule, had accorded top priority to school education that a majority of the government schools had got a facelift.
“They were on a par with private run schools in the infrastructure and teaching faculty among others,” he said and added that many States in the country followed the Tamil Nadu model.
The department, Mr. Sengottaiyan said, would offer free coaching for final schooling students to prepare for competitive exams like the JEE. From January 15, 2021, about 7,500 government schools in Tamil Nadu would get smart class.
Thanking the teachers and parents for their support during the covid-19 pandemic times, he said that the technology had come to the aid of the students that they could cope up with their studies from home.
For those children, who were unable to get access through the smart phones, the State government had initiated classes through television programmes.
Offering felicitation, Mr. Srinivasan said that the very fact that the government had earmarked a whopping ₹ 34,841 crore funds for School Education department in the annual budget showed the commitment for the cause of disseminating knowledge.
Among other districts, Dindigul students had received close to one lakh cycles under the welfare scheme between 2011 and 2016. Till date, a little over 32,000 students from as many as 128 schools here had received the cycle.
By giving the mode of transport (cycle) to the students, the parents had a big relief. Girl children, who were hesitant to travel in public transport had the bicycle to reach their schools and back home. From the infrastructure aspect too, the government had upgraded many schools as a result of which, the students were able to reap the benefits, he added.
Former minister Natham R Viswanathan, MLAs and Joint Director (School Education) K Baskara Sethupathi and among others participated.