Kejriwal unveils Delhi-type model school plan in Tamil Nadu
During an event held at the state-run Bharathi Women’s College in Chennai, Tamil Nadu chief minister Stalin also launched a scheme, which provides financial assistance of ₹1,000 for girls from government schools for their college education, which Kejriwal said will be an example of the entire country.
Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday launched government schools in Tamil Nadu on similar lines to Delhi’s model schools, which his counterpart M K Stalin visited in April this year.
During an event held at the state-run Bharathi Women’s College in Chennai, Tamil Nadu chief minister Stalin also launched a scheme, which provides financial assistance of ₹1,000 for girls from government schools for their college education, which Kejriwal said will be an example of the entire country.
In the initial phase, as many as 26 schools of excellence and 15 model schools will be covered with state-of-the-art infrastructure and learning models named ‘Thagaisal Palligal’ and ‘Mathiri Palligal’, respectively, in Tamil, said a statement from the state government.
Kejriwal noted that 66% of the country’s children study in government schools. “We know the condition of government schools across the country barring a few is pathetic,” the Delhi chief minister said.
“All of us want our country to be the number one in the world. All of us want our country to be developed. But if 66% of our schools offer our children rotten education in government schools then how can our country progress?”
Kejriwal contended that It is the right of every child born in our country to get good quality and free education, which is the duty of every government, adding that he was disheartened that some government schools are shutting down while some are charging ₹500 monthly. He said that an emphasis on education should have happened when India got freedom in 1947, but it still hasn’t in the past 75 years.
“I think if all the state governments and central government come together the way Stalin sir has started in TN, the way we have started in Delhi, I am sure within 5 years we can start providing the best education in all government schools,” Kejriwal said. “Unless and until we start providing good education in government schools as well as in private schools, I think the dream of becoming a developed country will always remain distant….”
Stalin and Kejriwal also launched the southern state’s Puthumai Penn Thittam (modern women scheme).
Under this scheme, all girl students who studied from classes 6 to 12 in government schools would be paid ₹1,000 monthly directly into their bank account till the uninterrupted completion of their undergraduate degree which is to primarily address the issue that girl students were not continuing education after school. “This will help Tamil Nadu’s education development grow higher lessen child marriages, empower women and make them independent,” said Stalin. “Women need not be suppressed.”
In this year’s Budget 2022-23, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led state government said that the marriage assistance scheme (introduced by late former chief minister J Jayalalithaa) is being transformed into a higher education assurance scheme and allotted ₹698 crore. Around 600,000 girl students are expected to benefit annually.
One of the beneficiaries, Barkathnissa, who spoke on stage said that she hailed from a remote village and was now an MBBS student in the government Omandurar medical college in Chennai.
“I don’t have a father. Our income is from farming, and my uncle helps my single mother. This scheme will help me a lot,” she said. “I have a request that we should not mistake the marriage scheme being changed into this. We know of husbands abandoning us after spending several crores in a marriage. But, there is no history of education for which we spend a few lakhs abandoning us.”
Kejriwal lauded this scheme as revolutionary. “First, it will provide financial assistance. I know a large number of very intelligent girl students but because of poor family conditions they discontinue their studies,” Kejriwal said.
“Secondly, the families will have an incentive to send her to college and not marry her off at an early age. So I’m sure the whole country will watch this scheme carefully. So I think this will prove revolutionary not just for Tamil Nadu women but for the whole country in the times to come.”
