Congress MLA Sridhar Babu slams poor education in TS

HYDERABAD: Congress MLA D. Sridhar Babu came down heavily on the BRS government in the Legislative Assembly on Friday accusing it of neglecting the education sector in the last nine years.

Speaking in the House, Sridhar Babu asked why the state government was not implementing the Right to Education (RTE) Act that was legislated by the UPA government for the benefit of children from socially and economically weaker sections.

He lashed out at the state government for failing to conduct a single DSC teacher recruitment exam, adding that the last exam was held under the Congress regime in 2012. This has resulted in 30,000 teacher posts lying vacant in government schools.

He took strong exception to state government allocating just over six per cent of Budget outlay for education. Sridhar Babu questioned the government over the non-implementation of the mid-day meals scheme for students of government junior and degree colleges, which was announced in 2019.

Due to the government's neglect of the education sector, the number of colleges besides enrollment of students in colleges had come down significantly, he alleged. The Congress MLA cited statistics of 1,17,000 students availing post-matric scholarships in 2021 which plunged to 71,051 in 2022.

Sridhar Babu expressed concern over the fate of students who took admissions to five private universities which were approved by the state government but the amendment made to the relevant legislation was pending approval with the governor.

He demanded that the government abolish CPS (contributory pension scheme) for state government employees and restore OPS (old pension scheme).