RAILWAY SCHOOLS - NURTURING MINDS

Long before management mantras were written about the need for an enabling environment for people to be productive, the railways had realized the importance in investing in the welfare of its employees. Railway offices were located in small and medium size towns which in the old days did not have many facilities such as schools. One of the primary requirement of any person working in an organization is to have access to good schools for his/her children. In response to this, we developed Railway Schools to provide quality education to our employees wards. Since then railway schools have groomed children of railway men and women, and prepared them for higher education.

There are 11 railway schools over Southern Railway located in Perambur, Golden Rock Workshop, Arakkonam, Jolarpettai, Erode, Podhanur, Palghat, Villupuram, Madurai etc. Four of these are Higher Secondary Schools and the rest are High Schools. Eight schools follow the Anglo - Indian syllabus, two follow Tamil Nadu State syllabus and one school follows the Kerala State Board syllabus. I Eight schools teach in English medium, two in Tamil medium and one school teaches in Malayalam medium. Of the 11 schools, 4 are more than a century old. The Higher Secondary School at Perambur, started in 1890, is the oldest of them all.

We have 5794 students in our Railway Schools in Southern Railway. Of these students, 4361 are wards of railway employees and 1433 are wards of non railway men. 271 teachers, 7 Head Masters and 4 Principals are engaged in providing education to these students. It is noteworthy that out of the 4361 railway wards, 2002 students arewards of Group D employees.

Southern Railway provides the best possible facilities in its schools at minimal cost. Apart from providing quality education, the schools encourage extra-curricular activities too. The students are members of Scouts and Guides & NCC. The students participate in artistic and cultural activities and social awareness campaigns. They excel in sports events at the district, state and national levels.

Among schools too there is a healthy spirit of competition in both academics and sports. Inter school cultural and sports competitions are organized with schools playing host in turns. And, in the academic sphere, the railway school at Golden Rock workshop has been adjudged the best school for the year 2006-2007 at the zonal level and recommended for Railway Board's national award. Most schools on their own initiative are imparting computer education, too.

With the growth in new schools all over the country including the South, most towns and cities now have excellent schools both private as well as public. In this scenario for the railways to continue to provide quality education, much needs to be done. Recent years have witnessed a steady decline in the new admissions of wards of railway men leading to closure of some schools with low patronage. From 18 schools in 1990, there are only 11 schools today.

The time has come for us to focus our attention and energy into improving these schools and develop a mechanism by which the quality of education can be continuously monitored. Only then can we be proud of our railway schools which continue to be symbols of the railway's commitments towards the welfare of its employees.