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EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE
PUNE, Oct 3: From providing school-bags, shoes, besides nutritious food, toys and text-books, the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC)'s school board is going a step ahead to keep pace with the times to introduce computer education and giving audio material to improve command over the English language for primary school students.
The schemes have been envisaged in the PCMC school board budget for the year 2000-2001. During this year, the board has added responsibility of 43 schools including 33 of the Zilla Parishad and ten of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) from the Dapodi area. After the merger of 18 villages in the PCMC limits, the schools are to be adopted by the PCMC. The official directive of taking over schools from the Zilla Parishad is likely to be issued tomorrow. The total number of primary schools will be 133 and the number of students will increase to 58,000.
PCMC school board officer Arun Thackeray recently presented the Rs 34.58 crore draft budget to the school board. The budget was approved by the school board and will now be discussed at the civic standing committee. The establishment expenses alone would require Rs 25 crore, an increase of nearly Rs seven crore from the present year because of the increase in number of teachers and the additional burden of payment of pay arrears.
Computer education for students from standard five to seven will be introduced next year, besides every school will be provided with audio material and tape-recorders for improving their English. A provision of Rs 1.65 crore has been made for uniforms, besides Rs 82 lakh for shoes, Rs 53 lakh for school bags and slates and Rs 97.5 lakh for nutritious food.
An unique `play-school' scheme will be introduced in ten schools for students of standards one and two on a trial basis. The scheme envisages provision of toys and educational games to make the stay of students in the classrooms more entertaining. The school board will be providing all facilities to 91 kindergartens having 4,000 students.
Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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