Andhra Pradesh: CM meets experts to improve education in the state

The expert committee for the reformation in the education on Tuesday explained its recommendation to the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy at the Secretariat in Amaravati. The Chairman of the Committee, Professor N. Balakrishnan had given a presentation about the actions to be taken by the government to strengthen the educational system. Till the date, the committee members have toured at the field level for several times and have met six times. The expert committee lead by Balakrishnan stated that a large amount has to be spent on strengthening the government education system. The committee further identified several key issues and the infrastructure in the public schools are in poor condition and the teaching practices are below par. They added, there is a crucial need to improve the teaching skills. 

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Total percentage of students registering to government schools is low

The total percentage of students registering to government schools is only 49.28%, whereas students registration in private schools is at 43%. Despite this, there is no transparency and no proper methods to monitor private education institutions. There is a significant need to improve private teacher training institutions. The expert committee recommendations also stated that a huge amount should be invested for digital education and teachers should be trained for the same. 

The expert committee has further set goals for the next five years and stated that every child between the ages of 6 and 16 years should study in schools. Student Learning Outcome should be increased by 8% every year and a third party confirmation should be conducted. The committee suggested that no student drops out at high school level and furthermore, every student should complete till their education at least till the tenth grade. The committee aims to bridge the gap between urban and rural students in the society and make sure that there are no social and economic barriers. 

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Government schools should have infrastructure and digital facilities

They further recommended that all government schools should have the infrastructure and digital facilities and campaigns should be conducted to increase writing and reading skills. An assessment tracking should be done on each student to see that no student from tribal areas drops out from schools, the committee suggested. The expert committee suggested that there should be vocational education from eighth grade and recommended that the weight of school bags be reduced

The committee added all the teachers should be trained as the English medium is being implemented for 1st to 8th-grade students in every school from next year. There must be an assessment of the expertise of teachers. Compulsory free education should be implemented until the intermediate and all the high schools should be upgraded to intermediate colleges. It said that the SSC and Intermediate Boards shall be merged under one commissioner. All schools shall be brought under SERT syllabus. A set of guidelines should be prepared for the teachers that are working in unaided schools. There should be a council for the management of Gurukul schools and a corporation for digital education. Every month the district collector should hold a review meeting, the committee suggested.

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(INPUTS FROM ANI)