Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday exhorted teachers to groom students into a force to reckon with.
Addressing a State-level convention of Telugu Nadu Upadhyaya Sangham (TNUS) in city, Mr. Naidu said he had great respect for the teaching community. Pointing to the fact that India was a young nation, he said nobody could be a substitute for a teacher and “only a teacher can mould a student into a responsible citizen.”
He said it was his dream to transform Andhra Pradesh into a knowledge hub and the teaching fraternity had a pivotal role to play in it. Speaking about technology advancement, he said since the younger generation (students) were lapping up the latest technical know-how, teachers had no choice but to upgrade their knowledge to be ahead of their pupils.
Referring to the pains that the bifurcation of the State had inflicted, he said his government still went ahead and sanctioned 43 per cent fitment allowance and increased the retirement age besides providing other benefits.
He said unlike in the past when teachers were appointed based on recommendations, he had introduced merit-based counselling paving the way for appointment of all eligible teachers in schools. Mid-day meal scheme, distribution of cycles to girl students, scholarships to SC and ST students and grant of 60 days child care leave for women teachers were other steps initiated by his government, he said.
‘Private schools
doing better’
Confessing that private schools were doing well in comparison with the government-run schools, he said very soon the situation would turn over. “We have initiated a string of dynamic measures to raise the standards of the government schools,” he announced amidst loud applause.
The Chief Minister said audio-visual mode would be introduced in classrooms very soon and video-conferencing would become a norm. Irrigation Minister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao and a host of leaders from the teaching community were present.
