Jagan launches distribution of Vidya Kanuka kits worth ₹1,042 crore

Vijayawada: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has launched the distribution of Jagananna Vidya Kanuka kits worth Rs 1,042.53 crore under the scheme that would benefit 43,10,165 students of Classes I to X in government and government-aided schools.

This is the fourth consecutive year that the state government is distributing the kits to deserving students. Each kit costs Rs 2,400.

Addressing a public meeting attended by the students and their parents at Krosuru in Palnadu district on Monday, the CM said the distribution was launched on the first day of reopening of schools after the summer vacation.

The distribution of kits was taken up all over the state in the presence of ministers, MLAs, MLCs, MPs and other public representatives in a festive atmosphere.

The CM said that this time, the government has come up with better-quality material in the kits, based on the feedback it received from the stakeholders. He listed out the material contained in each kit, like three pairs of uniform dress, a school bag, bilingual textbooks, notebooks, workbooks, a pair of school shoes, two pairs of socks, a belt, an English to Telugu dictionary and a school bag of larger size.

The Chief Minister announced that the AP government has signed an MoU with the Educational Testing Service to train students from Classes three to nine, to improve their skills and appear for TOEFL. This apart, under this programme, select groups of English teachers would be made to attend orientation courses in the US from the current academic year.

The aim, he said, was to eventually make students proficient in English language and encourage them to speak with the American accent.

The CM promised efforts to link artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, data analysis, language learning module and Chat GPT with the education system in the state so that students could get an exposure to the international education system.

Referring to the Nadu-Nadu programme, Jagan Mohan Reddy listed out a series of programmes taken up under it, like introduction of CBSE syllabus, making the medium of instruction as English and appointment of subject teachers even from Class III in the schools.

He said that to coincide with his birthday on December 21, Class VIII students would be given pre-loaded tabs with a private online education player’s content. As part of promotion of digital teaching, 31,700 IFPs would be installed by that time in 33,000 schools.

To promote higher education, the government is providing fee-reimbursement to the students with no cap on the  number of beneficiaries in each family. So far, a sum of Rs 10,636 crore was spent on this. Under the Vasanthi Deevena, the government spent Rs 4,275 crore so far, he said.

The CM said that the government was providing financial assistance upto Rs 1.25 crore each for students to pursue professional education in top universities around the world, under the Jagananna Videshi Deevana. The government had spent Rs 60,329 crore on the education sector in the last four years in AP, he said.

 Earlier, he visited the AP Model School and launched the digital classroom by writing ‘All the Best’ on the IFP amidst thunderous applause from the students, faculty members and officials.

Jagan Mohan Reddy spent some time with the students by sitting on a bench in a classroom and keenly observing the quality of school bag and other materials in the Vidya Kanuka kits. He interacted with the students and allowed both the girl and boy students to take selfie with him. The CM stood around with a beaming smile on his face.