In a record-setting enrolment, the strength of the schools run by the Greater Chennai Corporation across the city has breached the 1 lakh mark, in a significant leap forward, after ten years. The crucial development has given the civic body a major breakthrough and with the overwhelming turnout of students, the corporation has been aiming to accommodate more students by enhancing the educational infrastructure in the schools. 

According to reports, the Chennai Corporation has been running 281 schools across the city, and now, the total strengths of these schools stand at 1.03 lakh students, and the 1 lakh mark, which has come after ten years, was made possible after over 27,000 students of the private and government-run schools joined the schools run by the Chennai Corporation. 

The education department of the Corporation has aimed to enrol a total of at least 1.15 lakh students in the primary, middle, and higher secondary schools within September as the admissions are expected to continue till the end of September. On the front of increasing the strength of the students, the corporation authorities are working to enhance the educational infrastructure, financial assistance, and running door-to-door campaigns to increase the strengths of the student. 

According to reports, the civic body has said that the enrolment has increased due to factors including the presence of qualified teachers, good infrastructure, sanitation, toilet facilities, drinking water facilities, and labs. The teachers are also carrying out door-to-door canvassing to encourage more students to enrol in the schools. 

Enrolment had dropped in the schools of Greater Chennai Corporation from 1 lakh in 2010-11 to 83,100 in 2019-20 and last year, it has increased slightly to around 90,000. Corporation officials have said that the loss of jobs and income in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns had prompted the parents to enrol in the schools run by the civic body due to which the strength has crossed 1 lakh after a decade. 

A corporation official has said, "Many parents have not been able to pay school fees as they have lost their income and they have admitted their children to GCC schools." In the canvassing drive, the teachers will visit the students who are staying off from the schools and they will urge the parents to admit their children at the corporation schools. The civic body is also providing financial assistance to Class 12 students who had scored high marks in board exams and wish to pursue higher education. 

The corporation provides financial assistance of Rs 45,000 per year for students pursuing MBBS or BE. For art students, the civic body provides Rs 7,000 as assistance till they complete their college. Besides these initiatives to bring in more students towards the corporation schools, the civic body has also joined hands with the Union government for the Smart City project to improve the infrastructure of the schools at a cost of Rs 95 crore. 

One of the corporation officials said, "Everything offered in the corporation schools is free. Therefore, we expect more students to enrol in the coming days. However, many parents are unaware of the benefits we are offering, so it becomes a setback for us." As per the data, of the 27,000 students who had newly enrolled in the corporation schools this year, 19,000 were from other schools such as private, matriculation, CBSE, and government-aided schools. 

The rest were those who entered new school levels - from primary to the middle to high school. The corporation has also allowed students till Class 8 to enrol even if they don't have a transfer certificate. An official said, "This is because private schools don't issue TCs if parents didn't pay the fees. There won't be an issue till Class 8 by for Class 9 to 12, Transfer Certificate is a must. For such students, we are working out an alternative."