Survey to study Illam Thedi Kalvi scheme outcome

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu government has decided to undertake a massive baseline survey among 50 lakh student beneficiaries of the ‘Illam Thedi Kalvi’ scheme (education at doorsteps), to know the outcome of their learning.

The scheme was launched in October 2021 and has been the country’s first and single largest post-pandemic educational outreach programme.

It is being steered by a massive 1.81 lakh volunteer base with the core objective of bridging the learning gaps of students from Classes 1-8 due to the lack of access.

The project also aims to help those children who dropped out of school during the pandemic.

A senior official from the School Education Department told DT Next that feedback from the various stakeholders about the project has been encouraging.

“However, it is still unclear whether all the students have benefited. Therefore, all the volunteers who tutor students were asked to conduct a survey with each student about the learning outcome of the programme,” said the official.

The survey would be conducted by 1.8 lakh volunteers in their respective areas. Questions would be asked in the syllabus, which was specifically prepared for ‘Illam Thedi Kalvi’.

“These questions would give a clear picture about the student learning outcome in each subject. A detailed 22-point guidelines have been issued to all the volunteers,” he added.

Stating that the teaching community should follow every aspect of the guidelines, the official said, “After getting the details of the survey, a report will be sent to the district education officials for verification.”

The learning outcome reports will be collected district-wise and would be compiled to know the exact assessment percentage of the children.

“Based on the report, amendments would be made in the syllabus of the scheme so that children can actively participate in the classes,” he said adding “even volunteers will be trained if their students’ learning outcome is not up to the mark,” the official added.