The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : YSR calls for quality education

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Oct 24, 2005

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

YSR calls for quality education

Special Correspondent

Basic amenities and infrastructural facilities for all schools promised

IN RAPT ATTENTION: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhra Reddy listens to experts at the inaugural session of a seminar on education in Hyderabad on Sunday. - Photo: P.V. Sivakumar .

HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has called for imparting quality education to children while promising provision of basic amenities and infrastructural facilities to all schools in the next two to three years.

Inaugurating a seminar as part of the campaign by tv9, a Telugu channel, on `Education -- the Fundamental Right to every child', he said the quality of education was `very important' and not just opening more schools. As part of this, the Government was trying to ensure that every teacher does his/her job with more commitment and understanding.

Innovative measures

Emphasising the importance of breaking the `vicious cycle' between poverty and lack of education, he declared that the Government was acting pro-actively and taking many innovative measures, including the opening of bridge schools to bring children back to school. As many as 93 Kasturba Vidyalayas were set up from July this year.

Urging everyone to see that children in remote and tribal areas received proper education, he said the Government was trying to see that the `have nots' got the best of education through Sarva Siksha Abhiyan. He said that awareness and education go together and the lack of awareness was one of the reasons for the spread of AIDS in the State.

<15,0,,0><74,150,200,500>TDP chief's concern

Leader of Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu regretted that 100 per cent literacy was not achieved in the country even 58 years after attaining independence and pointed out that only knowledge societies and countries would move forward. As a result of the measures taken by the Government, the literacy rate in the State went up from 44 per cent in 1991 to 61 per cent in 2001.

Ensuring the continuation of children in school was as important as enrolling them, he said that implementing an efficient mid-day meal programme, recruitment and training of teachers, using latest technologies to provide distance education and building the infrastructure were some of the measures needed to achieve universalisation of primary education.

Srini Raju, chairman of iLABS, urged the Government to set targets each year for improving literacy as was done in irrigation and industrial sectors.

He said that India would be the third largest economy by 2050 and would have the largest number of 350 million working age people.

Anil Sadgopal, senior fellow at Nehru Memorial and Museum, Shantha Sinha, Magsaysay awardee, Jandhyala B G Tilak, member secretary of the Central Advisory Board of Education (CABE) were among the speakers who addressed the day-long seminar.

Figures disputed

Dr. Reddy disputed the figures mentioned in a short video film presented by tv9.

While appreciating the concern shown by the channel, he said: "I beg to differ" with some of the statistics.

Referring to the dropout rate of 64 per cent, as stated in the film, he said it was 31 per cent up to fifth standard.

Similarly, the student-teacher ratio was 1: 32 and not 1: 90.

Regarding enrolment of children, he said it was 99 per cent and, as the Government figures show, about four lakh children were outside school and not 40 lakh.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Andhra Pradesh