Education policy experiments prove to be a test for Tamil Nadu | Chennai News

CHENNAI: It took a year for the DMK government to form a panel to draft state education policy, as per its poll promise. Now the panel headed by a retired High Court Chief Justice has had a year to make suggestions. By the time the policy is finalized, it may be too late for the state to chart its own course.

Meanwhile, the Union government and the UGC began to implement the main features of the national education policy, such as the four-year school leaving diploma, the authorization of the double diploma in physical mode, the introduction of multiple entrances and exits in BE and BTech and a common entrance test for central universities.
This has left state universities in a no-win situation – whether or not to implement directives from regulatory bodies. Educators say the lack of clear direction from the state government or lack of policy document will affect future graduates and their job opportunities.
The state government’s attempt to secure a NEET exemption for Tamil Nadu students caused a rift between the governor and the state government. The state government has amended the Chennai University Act and the Tamil Nadu Universities Act to clip the governor’s wings in the appointment of vice chancellors. However, this does not remove the governor as chancellor. Thus, this decision creates two centers of power in higher education, as the vice-chancellors would be appointed by the state government, but would have to report to the governor, who is the chancellor of the universities.
“Many state universities are on the verge of financial collapse and they also have vacancies of up to 50%. If these two issues are not resolved at the earliest, it would also affect the ranking of state universities,” said a former vice chancellor of a state university. EDU While confusion reigns in policy issues, initiatives such as granting 7.5% reservation in professional license courses for public school students and granting financial aid to female students in public schools organizations set the tone for equitable opportunities.
Reeling from the pandemic, the state was quick to offer bridging classes to get children back to school. New programs such as Illam Thedi Kalvi to close the learning gap, reshuffle of school management committees to improve public schools and establishment of model schools to train students for entrance exams are expected to yield results.
results in the near future.
However, recent videos of unruly students in school uniforms have been all the rage in the state. Experts have questioned why the education department hasn’t focused on the impact of the pandemic on students’ mental and physical health. Teachers said drug addiction has increased during the pandemic and is driving unruly behavior among children, but there are no tools to deal with these issues.
Across the state, teachers and teacher organizations have also complained about the school education department’s lack of consultation with the ATION in key decisions.
“When the exam timetable was published in April, teachers objected to holding councils and annual exams in the height of summer. At the time, officials and School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi defended the decision saying they had no other option, but now the minister has said lower grades will be closed at the time. advance following the extreme heat recorded in many parts of the state,” said P. Perumalsamy, State Chairman of Tamil Nadu Graduate Teachers Association.
By addressing the issue of manpower, the state has been able to bring transparency into teacher transfer boards. However, the delay in conducting online counseling has made teachers unhappy.
“Online counseling, which usually takes about one or two weeks, takes several months because the portal has several technical issues,” he said.
Most teachers also said they spent a considerable amount of time uploading data for the Education Management Information System (EMIS) instead of teaching.
During the pandemic, more than six lakh students migrated to public schools from private due to financial constraints. “This represented a unique opportunity for the state. But the government has been in no hurry to bring the schools up to standard according to the expectations of the parents of these new entrants. Many schools lack clean toilets and face shortage of staff,” said P Patric Raymond, General Secretary of Tamil Nadu Graduate Teachers Federation.
Experts warn that while the state draws up a roadmap to reorganize the education system, it must simultaneously ensure basic school infrastructure and make quick decisions on academic matters, because education decides the future of hundreds thousands of young lives.
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