Chennai: State School Education minister, Mr. K. A. Sengottaian informed the Assembly on Tuesday that the government was considering allowing students to show their respective smart cards while travelling in state buses, which will obviate the need for their having to carry bus passes.
As the smart cards has already been given to the government school students, the new scheme when implemented will eliminate the need for they carrying a separate bus pass when they travel to schools, said the minister, replying to the debate on the demands for grants for School Education for the year 2019-20.
He said school fees now charged for English medium students in government and aided schools will be waived. A separate law to regulate the private schools was in the offing, Mr Sengottaiyan said.
The minister announced that a separate television channel for Education would be launched soon. Assuring that protection will be given to all school students, he said government schools would also implement a system of sending SMS messages to parents on their daily attendance in the interests of children's safety.
Mr. Sengottaiyan said government was considering an amendment to the Law on free and compulsory education. The Government was also considering not to allow admissions by private schools under the Right to Compulsory Education Act within a one-km radius of government schools. This measure would help improve the enrolment in government schools.
He announced a new synthetic athletic track will be laid in the Nehru outdoor stadium complex in Chennai at a cost of `8.25 crore. As many as 88 ‘Model Schools’ will be set up at the level of educational districts in the state, Sengottaiyan said.
Earlier, intervening in the debate, Mr. Sengottaiyan said the Tamil Nadu government was firm in implementing only the two language policy when the Centre was showing keenness to bring in a three-language policy. "Reiterating our stand, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami wrote a letter to the Prime Minister on June 26," Mr. Sengottaiyan said, adding, a three-language policy would be a strain on the learning capacity of students.
Replying to the demands for grants for Higher Education for 2019-20, minister K P Anbazhagan, who is in-charge of that department, said 81 new subjects will be started in Government Arts and Science colleges.
To improve the job opportunities for Engineering students, special counseling sessions will be held, said the Higher Education minister.
Referring to the controversy over someone outside Tamil Nadu like Mr. Surappa having been appointed vice chancellor of Anna University, the minister said out of the 13 universities in the state, only one had a vice chancellor from Karnataka. However, there was no rule against appointing persons from outside the State as vice chancellors of universities here, he made clear.
