A mother accompanies her daughter to school on the first day of the new academic year in Thiruvananthapuram yesterday.
By Ashraf Padanna/Thiruvananthapuram
Children clad in new clothes braved rains to attend their first day in school as thousands of academic institutions reopened in Kerala yesterday for the new academic year after the summer vacation.
According to officials, more than 350,000 children have enrolled in schools in the first grade under the state board this year, a drop of around 50,000.
The drop in admissions is attributed to demographic changes due to low birth rate and the proliferation of private schools affiliated to central boards. Kerala has also achieved the lowest school dropout rate in the country at just 0.53% and negative or near zero population growth in most districts.
“We had made elaborate arrangements since it was raining incessantly for the past two days. Teachers and seniors received the newcomers with flowers, sweets, balloons and toys,” said Education Minister P K Abdurabb.
He said the government was able to supply about 90% of books before the schools reopened. A handbook for Parent Teachers Association (PTA) representatives, titled
‘Teach, Protect’, containing articles by the minister, was also released yesterday.
He inaugurated the state-level Praveshanolsavam (entrance festival) at Government Vocational Higher Secondary School at Meenchantha in Kozhikode, while the leader of the opposition, V S Achuthanandan, led the festival at the Hemamika Nagar Sanskrit School in Palakkad.
Some 15 activists of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI) controlled by the opposition Communist Party of India (Marxist) waved black flags against the minister protesting against the alleged commercialisation of education.
