Nellore: Delay in land takeover halts Regional Institute of Education

Nellore: In 2016, the state government allocated around 50 acre land for the Regional Institute of Education (RIE) in Venkatachalam mandal, but the compensation of Rs 6.57 crore to the landowners has been delayed, leading to a halt in the process. Even though the amount was sanctioned a couple of years ago, it lapsed last year due to failure in timely utilisation. Ministry of human resource development sanctioned the RIE in Venkatachalam mandal and its foundation-stone was laid jointly by then Union ministers Prakash Javadekar and M Venkaiah Naidu on Decemebr 27, 2016. The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has five regional institutes in the country, at Ajmer, Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Mysore and Shillong and the sixth one which is the second in south India, was proposed in Nellore district. The centre strengthens school and teacher education in the region and also adjoining states of Telangana, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry.

The institute at Nellore was to offer teaching courses such as BSc, BA B.Ed, MEd, Ph.D, etc. and the students would undertake research and development of resource materials on school and teacher education.

This would be helpful for the capacity building of the teachers and teacher-educators and strengthen implementation of schemes of the union government like Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, information communication technology in schools, and also to fortify linkages among the state education agencies.

For promoting a national institute which was proposed after the state bifurcation and the state government also assured to allot 50.51 acre land free of cost. So, it has to pay compensation for Rs 6.57 crore to the landowners. But the process was delayed.