Making all kids English literate in 3 yrs is T’malai’s aim

“Within the next three years, the district will not have a single primary or middle school student who cannot read or write English,” Collector K S Kandasamy told DT Next on Tuesday.

The initiative is being introduced following the success of a novel venture undertaken by CEO V Jayakumar at the behest of Kandasamy. A book - Learning English by the Phonetic method - authored by two local teachers, SM Ayyappan and K Kannan, which costs Rs 100 a piece, was purchased in bulk and distributed to all the 1300 primary schools in the district some months ago at an estimated Rs 35 lakh. Primary school teachers were told to emphasise students’ learning skills.

Jayakumar said, “The book was initially meant to train teachers for which Kannan and Ayyappan were district resource persons. Subject experts altered the content to suit the local needs.”

The success of the venture surprised the Collector during a visit to a primary school at Melvanakkambadi village in Chengam taluk where he learnt about the project’s impact. “Teachers said it is a success and called on a student to demonstrate his English reading skills to me. In an effort to have a second confirmation, I myself called a student and gave him my field. He read it with ease. I do not know whether the boy understood what he read. But the fact is that if a rural student from a backward area can read so fluently, then it goes to prove that the project is a big success.”

The success of the scheme resulted in the district administration toying with the idea of extending the scheme from the next academic year to 350 middle schools and to classes 6,7 and 8 in another 380 high and higher secondary schools in the district, according to CEO Jayakumar.

“When the project ends in one to two years, there will be no student who cannot read or write English in Tiruvannamalai district,” Jayakumar averred. “This will mean that Tiruvannamalai becomes the most literate district in Tamil Nadu,” officials said.