Expressing his commitment to usher in sweeping changes in the education sector, Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said his ultimate goal was to bring down illiteracy rate from the present 33% to zero and improve the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of youth aged between 18 and 22 on a par with that of the BRICS countries.
Participating as the chief guest at the Teachers’ Day celebrations here on Thursday, Mr. Jagan said the illiteracy rate in the State was higher than the national average of 27% and it reflects the sorry state of affairs in schools and colleges.
Parents’ role
The State government was in the process of augmenting infrastructure and improving the standards of educating the children but its efforts would yield the desired result only when the teachers discharge their duties efficiently.
The involvement of parents was equally important for achieving the targeted outcomes, he observed.
As poverty was a major cause for children dropping out of schools, the government has introduced Amma Vodi and fee reimbursement and took other steps.
Mr. Jagan said he was shocked over the pathetic conditions in schools when students and teachers poured their woes before him during his ‘Praja sankalpa yatra’ and he had since made up his mind to cleanse the system. Immediate priority has been attached to creating necessary infrastructure in schools and the improvement could already been seen.
‘TDP govt. did nothing’
He said a huge number of teacher vacancies were unfilled, bills for implementing the mid-day meal scheme were kept pending for months together, salaries were not paid on time and school buildings were dilapidated as the previous government was least bothered about the facilities required to bring overall improvement.
The CM said the infrastructure in government schools would be augmented in three years and all government schools converted to English medium schools in a phased manner.
Ministers Audimulapu Suresh, K. Kanna Babu, Kodali Sri Venkateswara Rao and Perni Venkataramaiah, Government Chief Whip G. Srikant Reddy, Special Chief Secretary (Higher Education) J.S.V. Prasad, and Principal Secretary (School Education) B. Rajasekhar were among those present.
