COIMBATORE: School teachers have been asked to improve quality of primary education.

“Three of the four goals of Sarva Siksha Abiyan (education for all) scheme have been fulfilled barring improvement in quality,” Secretary General, International Council for Educators of Visually Impaired, M.N.G. Mani said at the one-day training programme on Inclusive Education of the Disabled at the Secondary Stage, held here on Thursday.

Increasing access

“There has been significant improvement in increasing access to children, including the differently-abled, bridging social gaps and increasing retention but regarding improving quality a lot needs to be done.” Without improvement in quality the other three objectives would have little meaning, he said and asked teachers to do more.

In increasing access to children, particularly the differently-abled, there had been a good progress in that 1.4 of the 2.1 per cent of children with disabilities (as per 2001 census) had been covered.

Social gaps

Social gaps had also been bridged to a large extent as girls were attending schools in large numbers. Retention too was good, thanks to mid-day meal and no-fail schemes.

But then retention without improvement in quality hardly served any purpose because students who graduate to secondary school would ultimately be found unfit, Mr. Mani said.

He spoke on the need to improve student-teacher ratio and welcomed the move to increase financial assistance to the differently-abled children.

Chief Education Officer N. Ananthi, District Rehabilitation Officer Jasmine, president, Cheran Region Christian Society H. Samson and others participated in the function.

Courtesy - Hindu