CHENNAI: By deciding the fate of a raging issue in State school education — the Uniform School Education System —in its first cabinet meeting, the Tamil Nadu government has sent out the signal that school education is high priority.While this focus on education is appreciable, the journey towards organising the sector and satisfying educationists has just begun.The one thing that requires immediate attention, of course, is the long-pending regulation of private school fees. Chief minister J Jayalalithaa may have said that her government will not interfere in fee determination unless schools asked for intervention, but parents still hope that the State gove r n m e n t will step in to enforce a fee structure to be proposed by the Justice Raviraja Pand i - an-led fee determination committee. The earlier structure proposed by the Justice Govindarajan committee did not meet the approval of private schools but this time around, it is expected that the new structure will be strictly implemented.Another contentious issue is the deferring of the controversial Samacheer Kalvi or Uniform School Education System. Along with postponing its implementation, the State government h a d a n - nounced the formation of an expert panel to look into the quality of education proposed by the system. There is huge concern over the formation of this panel which will look into the USE system in a non-partisan manner and deliver recommendations in time to implement the USE system from the 2012 academic year. Parents, schools and students expect the government to implement the system in a phased manner.Even as the previous government tried to bridge the gap between schools of different boards --(State, Matriculation, Oriental and Anglo-Indian -- by integrating them, the new government should focus on improving the infrastructure of government schools to bring them to the same level as others. Better physical infrastructure in government schools across the state -- well-equipped labs, proper buildings and sanitation facilities -- are another item in the wishlist of educationists.Introduction of kindergarten classes in government schools, as recommended by the S Muthukumaran committee on uniform education, is another highly anticipated announcement.With the implementation of the Right to Education Act aimed at improving the enrollment rates across the state, the crunch for quality teachers and headmasters is likely to be felt now more than ever. Filling up of vacancies for these posts is seen as the only way to reach the ideal teacherstudent ratio of 1:30 (in primary schools) as envisaged by the Act. Need for qualified teachers to handle subjects such as Maths and Science in Class 9 and 10 is another demand.Though the drop-out rate has fallen in the past few years (from 3.81 per cent in 2005-06 to 1.02 per cent in 2008-09 at the primary education level according to former School Education minister Thangam Thennarasu), it remains a problem requiring attention. The new government has to channel its energy towards sustaining the momentum and keeping drop-out rates low.
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