Government schools to house kindergarten classes soon

Coimbatore: The school education department is all set to introduce kindergarten classes in all government schools that have Class I at the entry level.

The move is expected to help government schools withstand the challenge posed by private CBSE schools and retain students by preventing migration.

Kindergarten classes in government schools would considerably lessen financial burden on the parents, who could easily enrol their wards to a school in their neighbourhood, an official source said.

In 2019, more than 2,300 anganwadi centres operating on government middle school campuses were allowed to start kindergarten classes. Following this, 122 government middle schools in the district had started kindergarten classes.

Teachers said there was a general perception that the government school students were weak in spoken English. “The move to introduce kindergarten classes in government schools will enhance the English language proficiency of students with appropriate training at the entry level. This will also improve the prospects of government schools in terms of admission to Class I, as most parents are likely to retain their wards in the same schools where they had enrolled their children to kindergarten classes,” one of the teachers said.

A senior school education department official said the lack of kindergarten classes in government schools had an impact on the admissions as well. “Parents were preferring private schools as kindergarten classes offer a foundation for their wards before they enter Class I. Select government schools were allowed to start kindergarten classes in 2019 and it may now be extended to all the schools with primary classes.”

Pointing out that many government and aided primary schools were unofficially running kindergarten classes by employing temporary teachers, headmaster of an aided school said they could now regularise the classes. “Since there are surplus teachers in aided and government primary schools, they could be redeployed to schools that will have kindergarten classes.”

However, there are concerns over redeploying the surplus teachers. “The kindergarten classes are in English medium. Teachers to be redeployed from other classes may not be fluent in English and they may have the required skill to handle children below the age of five years,” said headmistress of a corporation school at Town Hall. “Therefore, regular workshops and orientation classes are essential before the teachers take up kindergarten classes.”

The state government is, meanwhile, yet to take a call on resuming physical classes for kindergarten.