PUNE Even as schools run by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) keep classes online due to the Covid-19 lockdown, the standing committee has approved Rs20 lakh on Thursday, to be invested in teaching foreign languages to students of the PMC’s Vidhyniketan schools.
The Vishwa Bharati institute of foreign language will be contracted to conduct the classes.
The ₹20 lakh aims to include teacher’s salaries, preparation of course module, books, internet and online examinations, and audio-visual material.
Vishwa Bharati will charge the PMC ₹1,300 per student, as per the proposal.
The civic body has decided to offer foreign languages to secondary school students under the “Global Punekar” initiative in online mode.
The standing committee passed the proposal last week to teach German, Japanese, Spanish and French to secondary school students (Classes 8 and 9), for the academic year 2021-22.
PMC has six Vidya Niketan schools with 400 students studying in Classes 8 and 9.
Hemant Rasane, standing Committee chairman said, “The course will not start right now. When the academic year starts, it will precede it. The aim is to provide professional and career-orientated course to PMC school students under the Global Punekar initiative.”
A senior official of the PMC school board, requesting anonymity, said, “We don’t have the budget to run foreign languages courses. Schools have not opened. There is a prediction of a third wave of Covid-19. Therefore, no one knows when the new academic year is going to start. The most important is that PMC cannot allot work to one institute without calling for an expression of interest (EOI).”
{{/usCountry}}A senior official of the PMC school board, requesting anonymity, said, “We don’t have the budget to run foreign languages courses. Schools have not opened. There is a prediction of a third wave of Covid-19. Therefore, no one knows when the new academic year is going to start. The most important is that PMC cannot allot work to one institute without calling for an expression of interest (EOI).”
{{/usCountry}}Mukund Kirdat, coordinator, Pune Parent’s Association, said, “It is a waste of money. This is not the right time to start any such courses. The entire education system has collapsed due to Covid-19. “