Telangana Govt to bring in new education policy soon

To improve enrollments in the schools, bus transportation will be provided in remote villages, says Education Minister Kadiyam Srihari

Hyderabad: Telangana Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Kadiyam Srihari on Wednesday announced that the State government would bring in a new ‘education policy’ soon to rejuvenate government educational institutions from primary to university level in the state.

In his reply to a debate on ‘Education-challenges before the government’ in the Assembly, he said an expert committee would be constituted to prepare a detailed report to be submitted to the government in three months. An action plan to strengthen education sector would be prepared based on the recommendations of the committee and implement the same from next year.

“The education sector has been neglected by successive governments as priorities of the ruling parties changed from time to time. As a result, Telangana inherited 'weakened' education system after bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh,” the Minister said.

The government is already preparing plans to revive the school education by improving basic facilities-separate toilets for boys and girls in schools, running water, power supply, compound wall and kitchen sheds. To improve enrollments in the schools, bus transportation would be provided in remote villages. Rationalisation of schools and teaching staff was also under consideration, he added.

In the wake of increasing demand for English medium schools among all sections, the Minister said pre-schooling system in English medium would be introduced in the government sector and transform all existing schools in to English medium in a phased manner.

Srihari felt the present status of the education system was one of the main reasons for the delay in implementing the Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao’s dream project of providing KG to PG free education.The Opposition parties made suggestions for revival of education system in the public sector and curb exploitation by corporate educational institutions in the state.

Congress legislator Sampath Kumar warned that universities would be closed down if the recruitment for teaching staff was not taken up immediately. He asserted that radical changes in the education system were the need of the hour to compete with the corporate sector. Another Congress MLA Ch Vamsichand Reddy said inclusive education policy was the only panacea for the revival of education system in the state.