HC sets up panel to look into education scenario in TN

The Madras High Court today set up a committee to look into the education scenario of Tamil Nadu and suggest measures to reduce incidence of violence and improve the emotional well-being and academic performance of students.

The six-member committee comprising education department officials, academicians and experts in the field of psychiatry was constituted by justices S Vimala and T Krishnavalli of the Madurai bench.

It set up the panel while hearing a habeas corpus petition seeking to produce a 19-year-old girl, who went missing.

The girl, produced by the police in the court, said she had left home fearing that her father would admonish her for scoring low marks in the examinations.

The committee would explore the education scenario in terms of examination system, parent-teacher interaction, support available to students (academic, psychological and mechanisms), strength of co-curricular activities, challenges faced by the children and concerns of teachers, parents and educational administrator, the court said.

The bench said the panel would suggest remedial action to reduce the incidence of violence (self-directed, relationship and mental morbidity), strategies to improve the emotional well-being and academic performance of students.

Also, it would explore the concerns of teachers, parents and educational administrators, the bench directed.

The bench further said the panel would suggest strategies to foster resilience among students, mechanisms to provide academic and psychological support and fix responsibilities of stake-holders in bringing changes in this regard.

Petitioner, S Navneethakrishnan submitted that his daughter had gone missing and a case had been registered by the Melapalayam police in Tirunelveli.

The petitioner assured the court that he would adjust with the educational performance of the daughter.

The judges closed the petition and directed the committee to file the report by March 23.

The director of technical education would bear the expenses of the committee, the court said.