Chennai, Jul 11 (IANS): The Tamil Nadu government has constituted an expert panel comprising senior College professors in Science and Mathematics streams for launching a special initiative for students from Class VI to VIII in government and aided schools.

A recent study conducted by the Tamil Nadu school education department, in association with an educational agency, has revealed that the students of government schools show a lack of interest in both Science and Mathematics.

It also revealed that most of the teachers in the government and government-aided schools were not teaching practical classes to students and instead were relying heavily on theory classes.

School education department official told IANS that the department has already constituted a team of 70 professors from Science and Mathematics streams to develop a proposal for teaching the core science subjects to the students so that they develop a proper basic knowledge in these subjects. The idea is to bring in more students from government and government-aided streams to study Science and Mathematics subjects in the plus one and plus two classes.

The Tamil Nadu Science Forum is coordinating between the professors and the school education department for this project. However, School teachers want the inclusion of their representatives also in this project as they feel that they are better equipped to provide suggestions and improvements based on their day-to-day interactions with students.

An office-bearer of a prominent school teacher association of Tamil Nadu while speaking to IANS said: "School teachers in the government sector who give hundred percent results in board exams must also be included in this project to improve the basic Science and Mathematic skills of students as they are better equipped and knows the day to day issues being faced even by brilliant students who studies in the government and government-aided sectors."