Goverment schools gear up to welcome students

KOCHI: It’s school time all over again. The little ones are all set to pack up their bags and head for yet another year of early mornings and lazy homework hours.But getting out of vacation blues might not be such a tedious prospect after all.Guess why? The government schools across the state are all set for their annual ‘Praveshanolsavam’.‘Praveshanolsavam’ is a cultural programme initiated by the schools to welcome their students on the reopening day.This time the schools have lined up a variety of programmes. Procession, uniform distribution, science exhibition, sweet distribution and cultural programmes are some of the main attractions.The programmes are conducted in all the schools across the city but every year one school gets to represent the entire district.This year the honour goes to Poothrikkal Higher Secondary School for representing Ernakulam district.“We are very happy to represent the district. We are organising a variety of programmes. There will be science exhibition, screening of children’s telefilms, prize distribution and ‘chendamelam’ to welcome the students. Around 1,200 students and about 300 teachers and parents are expected to participate,” said staff secretary of Poothirikkal Higher Secondary School, T V Peter.The schools have chosen their programmes according to their strength. The schools are then asked to submit a report of the activities to the respective district educational officers. “We hope that these programmes will become more competitive and entertaining in future. We can also introduce a ranking system and award prizes to the best performing schools,” said Superintendent, District Education Office, K P Thomas.The programme comes under the ambit of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). “A total of Rs 10,000 has been allocated for the programmes in Poothirikal School.The rest of the expense has to be borne with sponsorships,” said P R Babu from the office of the Director of Education. Meanwhile, the CBSE schools seem to be lagging behind. One of the reasons for this could be that the school reopens on different days for different classes.“We do have programmes for students of KG and Standard I. But they are on different days,” said president of Sahodaya School Complex, Kochi, C S Johnny. But all said and done, it looks like the government schools’ reopening celebrations are all set for a blast.