Debate needed on how residential education system is impacting parent-children relationships: Revanth Reddy

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has opined that the residential education system is impacting the healthy relationships between parents and children as the latter spend their early years away from home, and called for a discussion on this serious issue.

Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy has opined that the residential education system is impacting the healthy relationships between parents and children as the latter spend their early years away from home, and called for a discussion on this serious issue.

The gap between parents and children seems to be growing according to some studies, raising questions on how children’s affection towards parents is diminishing due to their staying away from parents in their growing up-years. This may lead to children developing negative perspectives towards society in future and there is a need for discussion on this, he argued while speaking to students and parents at a programme here.

The Chief Minister felt it was important for the children to be with their parents in their early years as ‘Amma Vodi’ (Mother’s Lap) is always considered the best education. The programme was organised by the Vandemataram Foundation to honour students who studied in government schools and secured 10/10 Grade Point Average (GPA).

Mr. Reddy said the government is considering the implementation of a semi-residential system in government schools and there have been suggestions from educationists on this. Under the semi-residential system, the government should provide breakfast, lunch and evening snacks to keep the children occupied throughout the day and parents don’t have to worry about their child’s meal.

For this, the school education system has to be strengthened and schools’ infrastructure has to be improved ensuring that schools are within the reach of children. He said the Congress government has decided not to close single-teacher schools at any cost and accused the BRS government of closing down such schools. Spending on education is not expenditure but an investment and the society will benefit from the investment, he added.

The Chief Minister reiterated the government’s commitment to provide education facilities in every village and tanda. It has already started work at a cost of ₹2,000 crore to rebuild all government school buildings which are in a dilapidated condition. He asked the parents to play an active role in ensuring that children in their villages join the government schools if they wished to see the schools not closing down.

The Chief Minister said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and leaders like Nara Chandrababu Naidu also studied in government schools and he too was a product of the government school system. “If we all can make it big coming from government schools you all can also achieve big in your chosen field,” he told the students. He said 90% of IAS and IPS officers come from the government schools indicating the role of government schools in one’s success.