Govt. school admissions rose to 60% due to reforms, says Botcha

Junior colleges being planned at schools in villages and towns: Education Minister

Minister for Education Botcha Satyanarayana said that the admissions in the government schools have gone up to 60% from 32 in the new academic year due to the effective implementation of a slew of reforms, including the renovation of schools under Nadu-Nedu programme and Rs.13,000 financial assistance to mothers of students under the Amma Vodi, flagship welfare scheme of the YSRCP government.

In an interview with The Hindu ahead of the beginning of the academic year on July 5, he said that the fee burden for parents had come down completely with the significant improvement of schools in all 26 districts. “In spite of the financial burden, parents used to join kids in private schools to ensure quality education. Private schools used to have 62% admissions and government schools 32 during the TDP regime. With the initiation of reforms in a systematic way, the admissions in government schools now went up to 60%. Many schools have already declared closure of admissions for the current year. It is the biggest achievement for the government,” said Mr. Satyanarayana.

“The government will hold a meeting on July 15 to discuss the introduction of digital classrooms for every section from this academic year. Currently, only one classroom is equipped with the digital facility and therefore students of different classes cannot have digital classes simultaneously,” he added.

The Minister said that the renovation of schools and construction of new classrooms would continue in 2022-23 with the allocation of Rs.8000 crore.

“We are planning to construct junior colleges at schools to help students continue their higher studies in their villages and towns. We will construct colleges exclusively for girls to prevent dropouts at higher education,” Mr. Satyanarayana said.

The Minister requested the teachers’ unions to cooperate with the government in implementing reforms under the National Education Policy-2020.

“In accordance with the guidelines of NEP, we are merging primary schools with nearby high schools. Following objections from teachers’ unions, we are planning to restrict merger of schools from one kilometre distance instead of three km. We will hold a meeting soon to listen to all their grievances and suggestions,” he added.