Corproation Committe Needs More Funds For Development
The Coimbatore Corporation Council’s Standing Committee on Education, Parks and Playgrounds sought at its meeting recently more funds to improve infrastructure in the schools run by the civic body and also to establish at least one park in each of the 72 wards in the city. Committee Chairman R. Kalyanasundaram said after the meeting that more budgetary allocation was sought to construct toilets, libraries and laboratories. “The objective is to attract more students to the Corporation schools by providing quality education and infrastructure,” he said. The services of non-Governmental organisations would also be used to conduct spoken English classes. Of the Rs.70 lakh allocated for computer laboratories in the schools, Rs.10 lakh would be spent on uninterrupted power supply system and Rs.10 lakh on the building and related infrastructure. The rest would be spent on buying computers.
“We already have 11 computers. We also intend to buy the latest software. As for the distribution of computers, higher secondary schools will get priority. But, we plan to provide at least one computer to every elementary and middle school,” Mr. Kalyanasundaram said. Corporation Commissioner Anshul Mishra suggested bio-metric or the card-swiping attendance system for teachers and non-teaching staff at schools. The committee also suggested programmes on career guidance and education loans, involving officials from banks, the Life Insurance Corporation of India, employment office and college teachers. The meeting also wanted more sports facilities created in the schools.
On improvements to parks and playgrounds, the committee wanted the next budget of the Corporation to announce a special initiative to create more parks in the city. The members suggested that the size of the park could be decided according to that of the layout. The discussion on this subject acquired significance in the light of the Corporation calling for a complete list of reserved sites in all the wards by December 15. With most of these sites reserved for parks, the committee wanted green spaces created in all the wards.
