Ennum Ezhuthum programme: 61,000 students to undergo Assessment by SCERT

CHENNAI: Over 61,560 students of Tamil Nadu government primary schools are set to undergo assessment on Ennum Ezhuthum (literacy and numeracy) programme from December 2 to 13.

The State Council for Education Research and Training (SCERT) will conduct the midline impact assessment in government schools from December 2 to 13 on the scheme introduced to make all primary school students read, write and be able to compute before 2025.

As per the department sources, a third party organisation is selected to conduct the upcoming assessment as part of the monitoring and evaluation process of Ennum Ezhuthum for three years.

"Hence, the midline assessment of the Ennum Ezhuthum for students of classes 1 to 3 will be conducted in 5,096 schools in all 38 districts," said an education department official.

For the assessment, SCERT has uniformly selected 135 schools, as many as 1,620 students and 144 enumerators in each district. Hence, 61,560 students will undergo the assessment with 5,472 enumerators.

And, as per the notification from the department, two senior lecturers/lecturers from each District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) had been trained to be master trainers in Chennai on November 18. These master trainers will further train 144 field enumerators in their respective districts, who have been tasked to conduct the midline assessment in schools.

Further, these field enumerators will undergo training through DIET from November 26 to 29. And, subsequently, these enumerators along with post graduate teachers will conduct the assessment in the particular schools from December 2 till 13.

Observing a significant learning gap among children during the COVID-19 lockdown, the School Education Department launched Ennum Ezhuthum to improve the quality of learning and teaching in classes 1,2 and 3.

The motive of the programme is to ensure all students in TN attain basic literacy and numeracy skills by 2025 in Tamil, English and Mathematics subjects.

As per the learning abilities, the students were taught concepts of the three subjects by grouping them into three levels; arabu (primary level), mottu (mid-level) and malar (secondary level).

And, a budget allocation of Rs 91.25 crore has been provided for Ennum Ezhuthum activities in the 2024-25 academic year.