Value-based quality education is Andhra govt's objective, says CM Naidu

Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) [India], August 13 : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said on Tuesday that providing value-based quality education is a primary goal of the state government. He directed the Education Department officials to update the school syllabus to address future needs and to enhance government schools to compete with private institutions.
In a review meeting, CM Naidu called for the revival of the Pratibha Awards and parent-teacher meetings and encouraged contributions to school development through the Janmabhoomi program.
Chairing a review meeting of the Education Department, the Chief Minister directed the officers to develop the government schools to compete with private educational institutions.
According to an official release from the Chief Minister's Office, "CM Naidu wanted the Pratibha Awards and parent-teacher meetings to be relaunched and said that those who come forward for the development of the schools under the Janmabhoomi programme will be encouraged."
"I want radical changes in the academic sector with the sole aim of achieving good results. The state government is spending Rs 32,000 crore annually on education and the necessary results should be seen at the ground level," the Chief Minister said in the meeting.
Stressing the need to upgrade the syllabus in school education to meet the growing needs, CM Naidu said that educational experts, intellectuals and prominent personalities in the academic field can be consulted for necessary suggestions.
"Without any publicity, focus should be laid on providing basic amenities on campuses of all schools," he said.
"I want enrolment to be 100 per cent and proper monitoring should be conducted up to graduation level. Every student should be issued proper identity cards under the provisions of the Automated Permanent Academic Account Registry (APAAR) of the Central Government," the Chief Minister observed.
He directed the officials to conduct a proper study on GO number 117 and submit a report after holding necessary discussions with academic experts and teachers.
The officers of the Education Department explained, in detail, to the Chief Minister the reforms and the new policies introduced in the academic sector by the Minister for Education, Information Technology and Electronics, Nara Lokesh.
They informed CM Naidu that the 'one teacher for one class' system is being implemented and also brought down the app usage burden on the teachers.
The officers, through a presentation, also explained to the Andhra CM the current situation in the Education Department and said that currently there are 44,570 government schools and 813 aided schools in the state.
About 5,530 schools have only less than 10 students while 8,072 schools have less than 20 students.
Later, the Chief Minister conducted a review meeting on Skill Development and the officers gave a presentation on skill development census which the State Government has taken as a prestigious issue.
The Chief Minister told the officers to take up a skill development census after holding consultations with industrialists too.
The state Government will take up the census at the grassroots level after some more exercise while Tuesday's meeting focussed only on preliminary exercise.