Botsa assures supply of ragi malt to government school students

 Vijayawada: Education minister Botsa Satyanarayana on Saturday assured supply of ragi malt to students of government schools in two days.

Responding to a query in AP Legislative Council on Nadu-Nedu programme during the question hour, the minister said ragi malt is being introduced as Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy wants students to get a more nutritious diet while pursuing education in government schools of the state.

He pointed out that under the Jagananna Gorumudda scheme, they are changing the menu daily to ensure that students in AP schools get a nutritious diet.

Satyanarayana said the dropout rate of students in government schools has come down after the YSRC government introduced a series of reforms like introduction of CBSE syllabus, English medium, amenities in schools and nutritious diet.

The minister declared that the state government is committed to bring in 100 per cent literacy in the state. For the purpose, it has started the Nadu-Nedu programme for modernisation of schools. In the first phase of the programme, 15,715 schools had been modernised at a cost of ₹3,669 crore. The second phase is now in progress for modernising 22,344 schools incurring an expenditure of ₹8,000 crore.

Satyanarayana pointed out that schools now have more amenities, including drinking water, fans and tube lights, furniture, green chalk boards, toilets with running water, additional class rooms, compound wall, and English lab, among others. This has led to increased enrolment in government schools, he underlined.