Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday directed the officials of the Education Department to upgrade the syllabus in school education to meet future needs.
He asked them to consult educational experts, intellectuals and prominent personalities in the academic field for necessary suggestions.
Chairing a review meeting of the Education Department, the Chief Minister stated that providing value-based quality education is the basic objective of the state government.
Naidu directed the officers to develop the government schools to compete with private educational institutions.
Without any publicity focus should be laid on providing basic amenities on campuses of all schools, he said.
"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 told the meeting.
Observing that education is the fundamental right of every person, Chandrababu Naidu felt that kids of the school-going age should not be found outside.
The Chief Minister 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 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 Union government," the Chief Minister observed.
He directed the officials to conduct a proper study on Government Order (GO) number 117 and submit a report after holding necessary discussions with academic experts and teachers.
The GO was issued by the previous government of the YSR Congress, introducing many reforms in the education system. However, a section of teachers opposed the GO saying it would adversely affect the system.
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 the Chief Minister 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 Chandrababu Naidu 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 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 programme.
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 grassroot-level after some more exercise.