The government is planning to set up education institutes, in association with different temple trusts, across the State to ensure quality education for the needy and to protect endowments lands.
Giving details about the proposal, Education and Human Resources Minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao said most of the Endowments Department land are either encroached upon or were caught in court litigations. Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, as a policy, wanted to safeguard all endowments land.
Accordingly, the Education Department is considering establishing premium education institutes on endowments land, which will offer quality education from K.G. to P.G, including engineering, medical and other professional courses, he said on the sidelines of inspecting Andhra Loyola College here on Sunday.
“This would serve two purposes. The temple lands can be saved from encroachments and they could be utilised to provide quality education,” he explained, adding that the initiative would also include free food distribution to 5,000 people everyday at temples.
For establishing the institutions, temple trusts could have a tie-up with other institutions and universities or set up colleges and schools on their own. All these modalities were being worked out and the idea was to commence the project from next academic year. Already, Simhachalam temple trust in Visakhapatnam has evinced interest in taking up the project, said Mr. Rao.
The Minister, along with Krishna University vice-chancellor V. Venkaiah, inspected S.R.R Degree College, Andhra Loyola College and other institutions. Referring to the establishment of Education Department’s camp office here, he said: “We are considering different factors like land availability, geographical suitability and others. After scrutinising all these factors, a decision will be taken.”