The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Guntur News : `School education neglected in the past'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Sep 13, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Guntur

`School education neglected in the past'

By Our Staff Reporter

GUNTUR, SEPT. 12. School education was totally neglected by the previous Government in the past one decade resulting in severe shortage of teachers, infrastructure and lack of commitment among teachers, the Minister for School Education, Nedurumalli Rajyalakshmi, said here on Sunday.

`Empty coffers'

Participating in a function to distribute 3,000 solar lamps by the Katragada Foundation to meritorious students from rural areas in the Guntur district, she said that while 2.53 lakh classrooms were needed in the State, there were only 1.30 lakhs available. "For equipping schools with this infrastructure the State needs Rs. 1,000 crores, but unfortunately we inherited empty coffers making it impossible to meet the requirement," she said.

She invited philanthropists like Katragada Krishna Prasad to adopt at least one school to fulfil the needs comprehensively.

Foundation hailed

She congratulated the Katragada Foundation for being innovative in donating solar lamps at a cost of Rs. 50 lakhs. "It is not the value of the donation, but with the power crisis so severe in the rural areas, this gesture would go a long for the meritorious students in continuing their studies during night without any further investment," she observed.

Any donation by the philanthropists would be duly acknowledged and all details posted on the website of the department making the transactions most transparent, she added.

Call to teachers

Calling upon teachers to be committed to their profession, she blamed the parents for not caring for their wards by failing to monitor their studies in the name of lack of time.

A teacher alone cannot take care entire studies of a child the parents had to keep tab on the progress of their child by periodically checking their books.

The district Collector, K. Ramakrishna Rao, said the district was ranked sixth in the State in the percentage of literate population, which was not a good performance and a lot had to improve. Ten mandals in the Palnadu region of the district were specifically backwards, which needed special attention.

The Chairman of the Katragada Foundation, K.L. Narasimha Rao, emphasised on making Yoga part of school curriculum so that children could cope up with the stress and strain of the present-day burden of severe competition.

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