Parents of a government high school at Kunnanpuram in Thalavadi block in Erode district have been forced to hire a private tutor to prepare students for Math supplementary exam to be held on June 30 after 24 of 40 students failed in the subject in Class X public exam. The school is unable to provide proper coaching to students, parents said, as stated in a report by The New Indian Express.
Kunnapuram Government Middle School, which was upgraded into a high school in 2018, currently has 142 students in Classes VI to X taking classes from three classrooms. Parents said the school should ideally have 10 classrooms as it has both English and Tamil medium students.
Though lack of infrastructure is one of the pressing issues affecting the quality of education at the school, the parents’ immediate concern is the lack of adequate teachers. Though the school’s sanctioned strength is one headmaster and five teachers, the school has only three permanent teachers.
"The school has permanent teachers for English, Social Science and Math. About five months ago, we staged a protest demanding appointment of a headmaster and other teachers. Temporary teachers were appointed after that through the school management committee," said Kanniyan Subramanian, an activist and resident of Thalavadi.
No hope?
The school, however, still fared poorly in the Class X exam this year. Twenty-four students failed in Math, four failed in Tamil and eight students each failed in Science and Social Science. Disheartened by the result, parents are contemplating moving their children to schools with better infrastructure and qualified teachers though students may have to travel longer distances.
"As 60% of the students failed in Math, we approached the school authorities to inquire about the possibility of holding special coaching classes. Unfortunately, the math teacher was not cooperative, and we were compelled to hire a tutor for a monthly fee of Rs 15,000,” a parent said.
This despite the school education department’s announcement that special classes will be conducted for students who failed in Class X exam till June 30 as part of the continuous learning programme and snacks will be provided to them.
Switching is the only option
"My daughters are studying in Class VIII and Class X at the school. As we are not getting any solution to our problems, I have no option but to enrol my children in another school," said R Thomas, another parent. The parents wanted the school education department to construct at least two additional classrooms immediately and appoint dedicated teachers to ensure that children in the remote locality get good education.
Erode district education officials didn’t respond to phone calls. When The New Indian Express contacted senior education officials in Chennai they said that they would look into the issue and do the needful.
