Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has assured Andhra University Alumni Association (AAA) of providing a matching grant of ₹50 crore, if the association pooled up a similar amount, to set up a corpus fund for creation of infrastructure facilities in the university to meet the needs of students.
Participating as chief guest at ‘Waves’, the Grand Alumni Meet of Andhra University, at the AU Convention Centre here on Friday, the Chief Minister, responding to the plea made by GMR Group Chairman G. Mallikharjuna Rao, said that the government would provide the matching grant within one month once the association pooled up the money.
AU ranking
While describing Andhra University as ‘Chaduvula devalayam’ and the ‘pride of Andhra Pradesh’, he regretted that the university, which has the potential to be among the top five universities in the country, stands at number 14 today. He attributed this to the failure of the previous governments to fill the 459 vacant teacher posts. AU could be catapulted into a different league and all out efforts would be made in that direction.
“We (India) always compare ourselves with BRICS nations but the gross enrolment ratio in higher education in India at 23 % is much lower than Russia’s 80%, Brazil’s 51% and China’s 48%. This indicates that 77% of students are dropping out after Intermediate,” the Chief Minister said.
English medium
Mr. Reddy said: “Education is the only asset we can give to the next generation for the betterment of families and society at large. This will be possible only when at least one person in each family completes higher education.” He explained about the various schemes launched by his government, within six months of coming to power, for the promotion of English medium education to give an edge to underprivileged children.
Underling the importance of English medium, the CM gave the example of Minister Adimulapu Suresh, who had studied up to Class VII in his village in Telugu medium but shifted to English medium. This had helped him in becoming an IRS officer.
Tech Mahindra MD and CEO C.P. Gurnani, who participated as a guest of honour, spoke of possible collaboration with Andhra University in the area of research and the plans to increase the number of seats in Tech Mahindra, Vizag, from the present 1,200 to 6,000.
Minister Suresh and AU Vice-Chancellor P.V.G.D. Prasad Reddy spoke.
Ministers Muttamsetty Srinivasa Rao and Kurasala Kanna Babu were present.
