‘Need to focus on utilisation of school infrastructure’
'Need to focus on utilisation of school infrastructure' Published - August 21, 2026 12: 51 am IST - Chennai.
'Need to focus on utilisation of school infrastructure' Published – August 21, 2026 12: 51 am IST – Chennai.
Article outline
- What happened
- Why it matters
- The bottom line
"We are at a juncture where we should focus on hard infrastructure, not only on its availability but also its proper utilisation, for which the UDISE [Unified District Information System for Education] data can be used, " Mrinalini Badrinarayan, IIT-Madras researcher at Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) remarked here on Thursday.
Speaking at a panel discussion on 'Education in India: Insights from UDISE and AISHE', she remarked, "Even before the RTE Act, Tamil Nadu had a good density of administration schools. It is now significant to take stock of schools with buildings older than 30 years and look at reconstruction."
In a discussion on 'Reflections on UDISE and School Education Trends', S. Shameem, principal of District Institute of Education and Training, stressed the need to work on the affective domain. There are three domains in the education sector. "While we are successful in the first cognitive domain of imparting knowledge, we have work to do in the affective domain. This pertains to the feelings and emotions of students, and the attitudes of teachers, " she remarked. MIDS professor M. Vijayabaskar moderated the session.
Divya Syam Sudheer Bandi, UNICEF communication specialist, remarked beyond access to education, the State must ensure students are prepared to produce the transition from higher secondary education to the next stage.
Taken together, the developments around 'Need to focus on utilisation of school infrastructure' point to a situation that is still moving, and the coming days should bring more clarity.