Lokesh urged to intervene and address issues plaguing education sector

Andhra Pradesh teachers urge HRD Minister to address education sector issues caused by previous government reforms.

Members of the Andhra Pradesh United Teachers’ Federation (APUTF) have urged Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) Nara Lokesh to “intervene and set right the series of wrongs committed by the previous YSR Congress Party in the education sector.”

At a press conference here on Wednesday, federation’s State president N. Venkateswarlu and general secretary K.S.S. Prasad said the education sector was in deep chaos and needed immediate intervention by the authorities concerned to address the issues, many of which were the result of the initiatives introduced by the previous government in the name of reforms.

Finding fault with GO 117 on merger of schools, they said the 4,457 primary schools where Classes 3,4 and 5 were merged with either upper primary or high schools, were left with just Classes 1 and 2 and had not witnessed a single admission during this academic year. Last year, more than 12,000 schools functioned with mere one teacher and in the current academic year, the student strength had not crossed 10 to 15 in 20,000 schools, they said.

They said the with the government announcing that under “Thalliki Vandanam” scheme, every school-age child in the State would be provided an annual payment of ₹15,000, private schools, even those who did not have recognition, were resorting to luring tactics to attract students from the government schools to their institutions.

The School Education Department had not released the academic calendar even after a month of the reopening of schools in the State. There was no clarity if students of Class 10 would be asked to write their exams only in English medium, or would be allowed to write in Telugu medium as was assured to them earlier.

Stating that introduction of the CBSE syllabus in select schools had not benefited anyone, they said there was no scope for a new admission in Class 10 in schools that were following the Central syllabus, while at the same time, a large number of students who passed out of Class 9 were opting out of schools to avoid the Central syllabus. The leaders urged the government to implement a uniform syllabus in schools across the State.

They said the teachers’ expectations that they would be rid of non-teaching duties after the formation of the new government were dashed as these works had been increasing by the day. Citing growing dissent among teachers, they said during the admissions time, teachers were kept away from schools to make them attend a nine-day long training session on ‘teaching tools”.