Tamil Nadu school's cute QR route to enrol more

CHENNAI: While the Tamil Nadu government has requested teachers to actively increase the students' enrollment in state-run schools, a panchayat union primary school in Thiruppukkuzhi village of Kancheepuram district has gone a step ahead and employed creativity in increasing school admissions.

The primary school, with 440 students from classes 1 to 5, has 10 teachers and a head teacher. Speaking to DT Next, teachers shared that this is not their first for they have been employing technology for school-related work since 2010. This included holding exams, prepping the syllabus and using QR codes for admissions.

G Selvakumar, a teacher, said, "In 2010, we conducted an online exam for primary students in our school using Google Sheets. We prepared one-mark questions and conducted several tests for students. And, students too have shown keen interest in tech-based learning."

Subsequently, the Kancheepuram primary school in 2015 introduced smart identity cards for the students. The teachers embed a QR code on the student's ID card, which, on scanning, will yield the syllabus, rank sheet, homework status, videos on subjects, lab experiments, etc.

"Including technology in everyday school-related activities, the work related to students has made our children highly comfortable in using technology, which will help them in the long run," said Selvakumar.

Following the trend, the teachers of the school on Monday introduced a QR code for registering admissions for the new academic year.

"Most of the parents in this area work in industries nearby, and many could not skip work to engage in school registration work. Hence, we teachers suggested introducing a QR code, to which they readily agreed. The admissions will begin from today," added Selvakumar.

Through various innovative techniques, admissions at the school have spiked from 163 students in 2011 to 440 in 2025.