The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Bonanza for education sector

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jan 07, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Bonanza for education sector

M.L.Melly Matireyi

State leads in extending scholarships

Spending on education is an investment
School education got 50 p.c. hike in budgetary allocation

HYDERABAD: The education sector never had it so good as in the current fiscal which not only had a budgetary allocation of Rs.10,600 crore but had many of the long pending grievances of teaching and student community addressed.

Officials claim that this is not largesse during an election year but culmination of efforts of the last four years in correcting anomalies in school and higher education in line with radical shift in perceptions towards education sector, say officials as well as educationists.

While the school education got almost 50 per cent hike in allocation with a budgetary allocation of Rs.8,600 crore with provision for several innovative schemes including SUCCESS schools, higher education had another Rs.2,000 crore earmarked for disbursement of scholarships and fee reimbursements for poor students.

“In fact AP emerged as the only State and leader for the rest of the country by spending Rs.2,000 crore to provide access to higher and professional education and equity dimension to poor not only from weaker sections but also economically backward classes, said State Council for Higher Education Chairman K.C. Reddy.

Enrolment percentage

Another distinction the State achieved was its higher education enrolment percentage went up to 11.6 per cent while the national average was 10 per cent, he disclosed.

Spending on education sector is now regarded as an investment for developing valuable human resources for long term and lasting returns. As a result after a gap of 15 years, Government set up 200 junior, degree and polytechnic colleges in areas not served by private sector across the State.

Gurukulam centres

They were in addition to four engineering colleges under JNTU, four medical colleges, veterinary and horticulture universities, 21st Gurukulam centres for students of rural background, Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge and Technology offering six year engineering programme for meritorious rural students after 10th class started in Government sector in tandem with priority given to education sector, he said.

These measures for quantitative increase of institutions, focus on quality, skill intensive education and employability were driven by requirements of a transitional knowledge economy and result of systemic exercise that started from 2004 and did not happen overnight, Prof. Reddy said.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh