Xavier’s Higher Secondary School in a sleepy village Purathakudi, near Lalgudi in Tiruchi district, has been conferred the “Five star” status by the Bharathidasan University’s School Linkage Cell. The peer committee, led by the former Vice-Chancellor of Mother Theresa University, S. Lakshmi, termed as “notable” the school’s strategy for implementing both curricular and co-curricular activities for
the benefit of students hailing from rural and low-income background. Started as a Tamil medium co-education school, it opened parallel middle school-level sections in English medium of instruction. Just as the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) confers certain prestigious titles on colleges based on their academic achievements, the Bharathidasan University in Tiruchi has been conferring “Five Star” status on higher secondary schools which volunteer to undergo the experiment on assessment by the University’s “School Linkage Cell”, an exclusive body constituted a couple of years ago. The objective of the programme is to create awareness among the public, the quality of education and the extent of extra co-curricular activities available in such schools. In the initial period, only city-based schools vied with one another to be assessed by the peer team of the School Linkage Cell. Rural schools have been in the race for accreditation in the recent months, volunteering to throw open their schools for “star status” judgement in terms of academic achievement. Xavier’s H.S. School runs several clubs including Science Club, Exhibition Club, Consumer Club, Road Safety Movement, Green Revolution Club, apart from the regular units of NSS, Scouts and Guides. Students are enrolled as members of at least one club or unit.
“The school has been promoting leadership qualities among students through these clubs,” Lakshmi observed, after interacting with parents, students, teachers and members of the public as part of the assessment. Teachers adopt unique techniques. Yoga and meditation, inter-linking of teaching strategy with a thrust on revising and reminding the previous lessons are some of the “notable” points of academic planning. While conducting moral study examinations, scientific Tamil environmental education, and physical education, Lakshmi observed as “a rare” phenomenon, the provision for counselling to students and parents, besides job-oriented courses and Hindi. The Bishop of Kumbakonam, Bishop Peter Remigius, who is the manager of the school, said the school has a strength of 2,600 students. Spoken English is being taught to pupils. An orientation course in English enhances the communication skills of students of middle school section. The headmaster, P. Rajendran, said that with a humble beginning as a primary school in 1855 started by the Missionaries of Paris, the school grew into a high school in 1951, and higher secondary school in 1978.
