VIJAYAWADA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the school education department to ensure 100 per cent gross enrolment ratio in all government schools in the state.
Chairing a high-level review meeting on school education with education minister Botsa Satyanarayana and other senior officials at his camp office here on Monday, the Chief Minister felt the need to persuade the parents to send their wards to schools.
“Explain to parents about the series of welfare schemes like Amma Vodi, Vidya Deevena, Vasathi Deevena etc being implemented for the benefit of students so that it would help avoid the dropout problem in these schools,” he said.
The CM called for efforts to keep a close tab on students attending the schools. Parents must be alerted in case their wards fail to attend classes, by contacting them or sending them a text message, he said.
The officials briefed the CM about the arrangements made for conduct of Class X exams by setting up ‘no mobile phone zone’ in schools and providing the ‘QR Code’ in the question paper. This, he said, would help avoid leakage of question papers and in its tracking if and when anyone tries to take its photograph and circulate it on the social media platform. Other malpractices in the exam centres can also be checked this way, he said.
Officials told the CM that even senior officials and police personnel on duty are not allowed to use mobile phones in the exam centres.
“We are implementing a pilot project where the visually challenged students could listen to the questions and answer them orally. Some issues were cropping up with the scribes. The handwriting of some scribes is poor while some are writing answers in a lengthy, more than required, manner,” the officials told the CM
As for preparedness in the implementation of Vidya Kanuka programme for the upcoming academic year, the officials informed the CM that they would deliver 41,03,156 school bags in the first week of June. They would be stocking them at the mandal-level by May 30 and promised to distribute shoes, belts and notebooks to the students in the first week of June.
The CM wanted the subject teachers to be trained in teaching methods and skills especially in subjects like mathematics, physics and chemistry, by involving the IIT, Madras, to conduct a certificate course in the next two years.
Jagan Mohan Reddy felt the need to train the 1998 DSC-selected candidates during the summer and appoint them as teachers as per requirement in schools to ensure that no school faced any teacher shortage.
Officials must set up smart TVs and Interactive Flat Panels with pre-loaded content in the schools by June, the CM said and called for a TOEFL test for primary students from grades three to five and junior TOEFL test for students from grades VI to X. He called for preparation of e-content to train the students to appear for TOEFL tests at primary and junior levels.
On the mid-day meal programme, the CM asked the officials to intervene in schools where less than 80 per cent students opt for food to find out any issues related to quality or other issues and rectify them.
The officials informed the CM that CBSE affiliation to government schools was going on in full swing and promised efforts to bring the remaining schools also under its affiliation soon.
The Chief Minister also asked the officials to take steps to repair the tabs that were not functioning properly. Keep a complaint number in the schools so that the students facing trouble to use them could lodge a complaint and get the problem rectified, he said.
Jagan Mohan Reddy said he wanted AP to be free from anaemia by identifying students suffering from such problems. Special care must be provided to them under the Gorumudda Plus and also through Sampoorna Poshana Plus in the Anganwadis, giving nutritious diet to pregnant women, lactating mothers and children.
The CM also reviewed the ongoing works under Nadu-Nedu’s phase-2 in schools in the state.
