Amaravati: In a bid to arrest the school dropout rate in government schools and encourage active student participation in learning, the Andhra Pradesh government will distribute kits to school-going children under the ‘Jagananna Vidya Kanuka’ scheme on Thursday.
Over 43 lakh students studying in government-run schools of Andhra Pradesh will be given the kits that will comprise three pairs of uniforms, one pair of shoes, two pairs of socks, prescribed textbooks, notebooks, a belt and a school bag. “ This being COVID time, every student will also be supplied with three face masks. Each kit is worth Rs. 1600,” said Devulapalli Amar, national media advisor to the Government of Andhra Pradesh in a statement on Wednesday.
AP Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy will formally launch the scheme at Punapadu government school in Krishna district on Thursday. This scheme aims to put an end to the earlier practice of erratic and non- supply of books, uniform and other essentials to students, said a statement from the government.
“The YSRCP government has already taken up an ambitious program of Nadu-Nedu for completely transforming the infrastructure in government schools in the next three years. One-third of the government-run schools have been taken up under the scheme and thousands of crores have already been spent for the purpose. The remaining schools will be covered in the next two academic years,” Amar said.
Meanwhile, the Jagan government in November last year mooted the proposal to make English medium education compulsory from classes I to VI in primary, upper primary and high schools under all managements from 2020-21. It was to be gradually extended to each further class from the next consequent academic years. However, the Andhra High Court quashed the government’s order. “The choice of selecting the medium should be left to the students and hence, the existing Telugu medium schools should continue,” the court said in April.