The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has formed a committee under the chairmanship of Chigurupati Varaprasad, MLC, to prepare a roadmap for formation of an ‘education trust' with a corpus of at least Rs.5 crores to strengthen infrastructure in the VMC-run schools and also support the higher education of financially poor students coming out with flying colours in SSC.
The committee was formed on Friday at the end of a brainstorming session with political leaders, intellectuals, educationists, businessmen and representatives of voluntary organisations on how to find a permanent solution to improve infrastructure in VMC-run schools and extend a helping hand to bright students of these schools to study Intermediate in corporate educational institutions.
Krishna Industrial and Agricultural Exhibition Society president G.V. Rama Rao will be the convener of the committee, which will have as members Ramesh Jain, G.D.V. Prasad, Manas Nanda Kishore, Keerthi, Ch. Mallikharjuna Rao and K. Durga Rao.
The brainstorming session held in a star hotel was attended by Lagadapati Rajagopal, MP, Mayor M.V. Ratna BIndu and Commissioner G. Ravi Babu.
MP's call
Mr. Rajagopal said that the city had been an education hub for a long time, thanks to the exceptional performance of students in various national-level entrance examinations every year. Explaining about the financial assistance being given to the meritorious students of VMC-run schools for the last three years by the Lanco Foundation, Mr. Rajagopal called upon other philanthropists and charitable organisations to come forward to form the trust.
Ms. Ratna Bindu said that the trust would take care of the educational needs of the poor students and also help them pursue Intermediate in corporate colleges.
She expressed hope that the new trust would play a crucial role in developing infrastructure in municipal schools.
Mr. Ravi Babu pointed out that the corporation had been helping a number of students, but poor students after completing SSC were finding it difficult to join Intermediate as the fee in corporate colleges was high. There was no government scheme to help them during these two years of study. He felt that the vacancies could be the reason for the poor performance of students in Urdu medium schools of the VMC.
Pat for VMC
Mr. Varaprasad praised the VMC for making efforts to help poor students. He suggested to the Commissioner to focus on the problem of students dropping out from the schools even before reaching SSC, which was actually on the rise.
Those who attended the meeting came out with various suggestions and measures on issues related to moral education and quality education.
