Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that many of the 45,000-odd government schools in the State do not have basic infrastructure like toilets, drinking water, blackboards and compound walls and the government is committed to transform them.
Speaking at the Grand Alumni Meet of Andhra University Alumni Association(AAA) here on Friday, the Chief Minister spoke of his government’s plan to develop them in three phases at an estimated cost of ₹45,000 crore. English medium would be introduced in these schools for Classes I to VI from the academic year starting in June, 2020 and subsequently it would be introduced for higher classes.
Over a period of four years, children would be able to write the SSC examination in English. While admitting that there could be teething problems like lack of trained teachers, he said that they would get used to it in three years. Later, the focus would be on higher education, where various courses would be made job-oriented by imparting an additional one year practical training to students after their degree. This would make them industry-ready.
Earlier, GMR Group Chairman G. Mallikharjuna Rao described the plan to introduce English medium in government schools as a great initiative. Describing English language as the ‘passport to success’, he recalled the difficulties he had faced in Andhra University as he had studied in Telugu medium at his village school.
Mr. Mallikharjuna Rao, who is also the founder chairman of AAA, spoke of the association’s efforts of preparing a database of two lakh alumni.
Tech Mahindra MD and CEO CP Gurnani explained about the three stages of learning, earning and giving back to society (philanthropy). He suggested that alumni should act as a bridge between students, academia and industry.
AU Vice-Chancellor P.V.G.D. Prasad Reddy said that ‘excellence was a habit’ in Andhra University. AU was one among 15 universities, which were considered for granting the status of ‘Institutes of Excellence’, in the country. Though there was a demand for increasing the seats in AU College of Engineering for the past 35 years, it was ignored by the successive governments. He said that the YSRCP has now decided to increase the number of seats by 500.
Former Vice-Chancellor Beela Satyanarayana welcomed the gathering.
