Lokesh Slams YSRC for Not Clearing Dues of Rs 6,500 Crore in Education Sector

Vijayawada: Education and IT Minister Nara Lokesh has slammed the previous government for “not clearing dues for various schemes including students' fee-reimbursement worth Rs 6,500 crore.”

In reaction to the criticism from former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy that the TD-led-state government was ignoring the interests of students, Lokesh accused the YSRC rule of being the worst governance. “It failed to clear huge bills for supply of eggs and chikkis to students and also did not ensure their fee-reimbursement,” he said.

Lokesh alleged that the previous government kept bills of Rs 3,500 crore pending vis-a-vis schemes like Vidya Deevena and Vasathi Deevena. A large number of students faced trouble in getting certificates, he said.

“When the issue was brought to my notice during my Padayatra during the Yuva Galam programme, I promised to clear the dues in fee reimbursement in a phased manner once our government was formed. Accordingly, we started doing so,” he said and directed the educational institutions to give the certificates to the students without further delay.

The government, he said, would release the fee-reimbursement dues directly to the educational institutions.

He asked former CM Jagan Reddy whether it was true that the enrolment of students in government schools had come down by four lakh during his five-year rule. As the CBSE syllabus was introduced “without providing proper training to the teachers and students, some 90 per cent of the students failed in the exams,” he said.

With regard to the Nadu-Nadu programme, Lokesh alleged that during his visits, he found schools having no facilities like benches, drinking water and toilets for students. The kind of ill-effects caused to the students for giving them Tabs could be realized by making enquiries with their parents, he said.

To avoid such problems, he said, "We were coming up with an action plan to assess the academic capability of the students in each school.”

Maintaining that it was the present government’s responsibility to set the education sector back on track, the minister said they were taking steps to strengthen the amenities in schools and improve the standards of education.

“We are filling up 16,347 teacher posts through mega DSC,” he said and promised to implement the Vidya Deevena and Vasathi Deevena schemes without causing any trouble to the students and their parents.