“Strong push” to ensure English fluency

“Strong push” to ensure English fluency

Chennai: The state Planning Commission, in its Approach Paper to the 11th Five Year Plan has sought a “strong push” to ensure fluency in English among school students.

It has said that this is essential in view of the emerging nature of the job market and the importance of the language as an essential pre – requisite skill in the modern economy. “It is possible to do this without affecting the primacy of Tamil, especially at the primary level, but will need considerable resources and a major capacity building exercise among teachers themselves.

While pointing out “impressive showings” up by the State in respect of enrolment in elementary education and availability of school infrastructure, the panel lists areas of concern: inter – district disparities in enrolment, dropouts at the post – primary level, access to higher education and the quality of education in general.

The state should take steps for maximising secondary enrollment. It requires “significant attention and investment in improving infrastructure and capacity building of teachers, “Gross enrolment ratios at the high school level continue to show not just a spatial disparity between districts but also high light a gender disparity, especially in Villupuram, Cuddalore, Dindigul and Tiruvannamalai districts.

Chronic poor performance

On the quality front, “ there is a large urban – rural, rich- poor and even a north – south divide in the quality of education offered in our schools,” according to the Commission. Reasons for the “chronic poor performance” in some schools should be analysed. There is a need for interventions targeting children, particularly first – generation learners. Underscoring the importance of a “proper system” for evaluating the performance of schools and teachers, the panel suggests involvement of local communities and parent - teacher associations in this regard.

The Approach Paper raises a fundamental question: whether vocational education in schools is relevant now. It hints that Industrial Training Institutes (it is) and polytechnics should be made first – level vocational training centers that will develop course and curriculum suited to the needs of the economy.

On higher education, the document says, “The quality of teaching in the basic sciences and humanities in our institutions of higher learning has been slipping which is both a cause and a result of the falling demand for these courses like engineering” To strengthen research and development programmes, centers of excellence in existing universities can be identifies.

The Commission does not deny the scope and space for the building of partnerships with the private sector in sectors such as health and education. However, “the solution to inefficiencies in service delivery cannot lie in an abdication of the role of the public sector institutions altogether. Given the continuing high poverty levels in the State in rural and urban areas, the public sector model in health and education has a continuing relevance, although admittedly, a lot more has to be done to make the systems more effective and responsive.”

The Approach Paper adds that the strategy to improve human development indices should concentrate on reaching “most vulnerable” sections and those “relatively excluded from the benefits of the progress achieved in the State.”

“Strong push” to ensure English fluency

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