The State government will enhance the quality of school education to make it more oriented towards development of life skills, Governor Arif Mohammed Khan said in his policy address on Friday.
The enrolment of students in government and aided schools in the State had gone up considerably. Improvement of infrastructural standards across all levels of schools had led to the increase in enrolment, Mr. Khan said.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic situation, the General Education Department continued to conduct classes for students from Classes 1 to 12 in State schools through the online mode, he said.
Gothrabandhu
Mr. Khan said an innovative programme called Gothrabandhu (tribal mentor teacher) was being implemented in select primary schools across the State to eliminate linguistic barriers in education and learning of tribal children. Launched by the Scheduled Tribes Development Department, it envisaged training educated tribal youth, especially those with TTC/BEd. Qualification and well-versed in tribal languages and Malayalam, to function as mentor teacher/education facilitator.
As many as 500 new community study centres would be established by the Scheduled Tribes Development Department during 2021-22 to help at least 15,000 tribal children achieve academic excellence, the Governor’s policy address said.
Drug abuse
Reflecting the concern over increasing drug use among schoolchildren, Mr. Khan said school campuses would be made drug-free. Anti-drug clubs would be extended to all schools, both public and private. A project called Awakening would be implemented in select schools in all 14 districts. There are 5,741 anti-drug clubs functioning at school and college levels at present.
