Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Wednesday distributed tablets to Class 8 students and faculty in the state's Bapatla district, in a move to boost digital literacy. The event coincided with his 50th birthday, a government statement said.
Quoting former US president John F Kennedy at the launch of the event, the chief minister said, “All of us do not have equal talent, but all of us should have an equal opportunity to develop our talent”.
He added that the initiative of distributing tabs has been taken up to ensure that children receive fully aided knowledge and education. These tabs are being developed by Samsung and will contain preloaded content for which the state government has spent ₹778 crore. The distribution of tablets will continue for a week.
Overall, 5,18,740 tablets will be distributed to 4,59,564 Class 8 students and 59,176 teachers across the state. This initiative is among a series of reforms that Jagan promised to bring about in the education department once the YSRCP government came to power.
"It is the YSRCP government's endeavour to develop schools that provide quality education to every child and provide financial support to educate that child. This will ensure a bright future for the coming generations,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}"It is the YSRCP government's endeavour to develop schools that provide quality education to every child and provide financial support to educate that child. This will ensure a bright future for the coming generations,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Following are the highlights and status of reforms introduced by the state government in the education department since 2019:
Amma Vodi
To increase Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER), the Amma Vodi scheme has been implemented with the financial assistance of ₹15,000 to each beneficiary mother annually. So far, the government has spent ₹19,617.6 crore benefiting about 45 lakh mothers.
Facilities have been provided in 15,715 schools under Phase I of the ‘Mana Badi Nadu-Nedu’ programme at a cost of ₹3,669 crore. The provision of additional classrooms has been included in the 11 components that form part of the Phase II programme. Work has been taken up in 22,344 schools with an outlay of ₹8,000 crore. So far, the expenditure incurred is ₹1,237.95 crore.
Mid-day meal
A revamped mid-day meal programme has been launched under the ‘Jagananna Gorumuddha’ scheme. Under it, five eggs per week and three peanut jaggery bricks (chikki) are being served to children. About 15 varieties of items that have more nutritional value than the Recommended Daily Allowance (RDA) are being served per week by spending an amount of ₹1,800 crore per annum.
Student kits
Under the Vidya Kanuka scheme, the government has supplied teaching-learning material in the form of student kits. Each kit consists of a school bag, three pairs of uniforms with a stitching charge, a belt, a pair of shoes and two pairs of socks, textbooks, notebooks, workbooks, and an English-to-Telugu Oxford dictionary. The government has spent ₹2,323.99 crore so far under the scheme to benefit around 45 lakh children every year.
Educational reforms
The government has implemented several reforms in the school education system from the academic year 2020-21. Textbooks for classes 1 to 8 are being redesigned bilingually to ensure a smooth transition of students into English medium. Spoken English is being imparted to all the students, especially those in Class VIII, as they will be appearing for the Class 10 public examination in the CBSE pattern during the 2024-25 academic year.