Andhra Pradesh’s first Assembly session held on Tuesday, July 23, discussed irregularities in the education sector and raised questions about the ‘Mana Badi Nadu Nedu’ scheme which was launched by YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) leader and former Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy in November 2019. The scheme aimed to improve learning outcomes, decrease dropout rate in all schools and upgrade school infrastructure. It included the construction of new classrooms, toilets, libraries, and drinking water facilities.
The discussion took place in the absence of YSRCP legislators, who are in New Delhi to protest against political violence meted out to their party workers allegedly by the state government led by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). Addressing the Assembly, Tenali MLA Shravan Kumar alleged that it was the infrastructure mismanagement in government schools that caused four students to be injured in Kurnool district. “The YSRCP government planned to spend Rs 9,425 crore and they released Rs 7,524 to carry out the works. But they have very little to show for it,” he said, demanding an assessment of the scheme in its entirety as well as the tender process involved in procuring material for school construction.
Undi MLA Raghuram Krishnam Raju and Ponnur MLA Dhulipalla Narendra also criticised the former government for an alleged lack of proper playground facilities and shoddy construction.
Further, the previous Jagan government was criticised for “not doing enough to improve Industrial Training Institutes (ITI) and Polytechnic institutions in the state.” Amadalavalasa MLA Koona Ravi Kumar stated that an ITI was set up in his district of Ambedkar Konaseema but it is yet to start functioning.
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) general secretary and Human Resource Development Minister Nara Lokesh said a separate enquiry will be conducted to probe irregularities in the Nadu Nedu scheme. “The government will also study education policies adopted by other governments including the Uttar Pradesh government’s Nipun Bharat scheme and conduct field visits,” he said.
Lokesh further added that a special focus would be placed on improving learning outcomes in KG to PG education and streamlining school curriculum in view of the previous government’s rapid changes from CBSE to TOEFL to IB education.
Lokesh also criticised the previous government for not developing the state’s 88 government and 174 private polytechnic institutions in the state. “The admission rate in these institutions have dropped from 80% to 54% under the previous government,” he alleged.