A few years ago, the Andhra Pradesh government rolled out reforms in the education sector by dividing schools into six categories. In 2020-21, all the government schools began providing education in the English medium. The State Council of Educational Research and Training began printing bilingual textbooks to facilitate the smooth transition of students from Telugu to English as the medium of instruction. Despite protests and court cases, the government made this switch citing a survey on parents’ aspirations. In 2022-23, the first set of government schools (1,005 of them) were given affiliation to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) as part of a bigger plan to bring all the State-run schools within the CBSE’s fold in phases.
The government claims to have spent ₹63,000 crore in the last four and half years on reforms ushered in to revamp the 45,000 State-run schools through welfare initiatives. The Jagananna Amma Vodi scheme, which provides poor mothers ₹13,000 per annum for sending their children to school, has helped improve student enrolment but has cost the government exchequer ₹26,000 crore. Mana Badi-Nadu-Nedu, which gave a facelift to public sector schools, cost another ₹11,600 crore. Free distribution of annual school kits to students under Vidya Kanuka, encouraging students from marginalised communities to pursue higher education through Vidya Deevena, and creating digital classrooms by distributing tabs to students and installing smart TVs and Interactive Flat Panels in classrooms have all stood the government in good stead.
However, while trying to switch to ‘new age learning’ and transform Andhra Pradesh into a knowledge State, the government has had to fend off criticism on its failure to cohere its policies with the existing situation. Teacher unions and educationists are upset over the frenetic pace and high costs involved. Stating that the initiatives are being implemented in quick succession without proper homework, they fear that the reforms may be reduced to misguided squandering. Many argue that the much-needed focus on teacher training facilities is missing. Unions have also been protesting against the school merger plan stating that it would put the poorest children at a disadvantage.
