AP upholds reforms in govt schools

With a focus on outcome-based education mainly in the government schools located in backward areas, the programme will cover 40.13 lakh students studying in 45,000 schools and will also cover 10 lakh students at the anganwadi centres

Visakhapatnam: A slew of path-breaking initiatives undertaken by the State government has led to approval of $250 million loan to Andhra Pradesh for implementation of drastic changes in school education under Supporting Andhra's Learning Transformation (SALT).

World Bank's International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) recently cleared the proposal to lend the loan for the programme aimed at focusing on outcome-based education with active participation of the students mainly in the government schools located in backward areas and reorienting teaching methodology by training the teachers. The scheme recognises a child's psychological factors regulating their interest for learning. Hence, the focus will be on enhancing the motivation quotient among the students.

This is a pilot project said to being implemented first of its kind. The programme will cover 40.13 lakh students studying in 45,000 schools. In addition, it will also cover 10 lakh students being taken care of by the Anganwadi centres. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has been holding a series of meetings to bring about revolutionary changes in the education sector.

The State government officials said during past three years, they have spent Rs 53,000 crore on school education. Though initially there was confusion on adoption of English medium education, the government has reiterated its firmness on sticking to it to improve competitiveness among the students.

It has been decided to spend Rs 700 crore on augmenting the school infrastructure by building additional classrooms to teach classes. The government has tied up with leading edutech company Byju's to improve learning in the schools. The government will distribute five lakh tabs with pre-loaded Byju's e-learning content. The government schools will be given 72,000 TV sets in phases at a total cost of Rs 512 crore.

For funding SALT programme, IBRD aims to transform schools in the State into a vibrant and competitive platform with innovative teaching practices, learning methodologies and management of schools with the involvement of parents and community leaders.

Special Chief Secretary (School Education) B Rajasekhar recently told the media that the World Bank sanctioned the loan of $250 million without any pre-condition in recognition of AP's commitment to bring about revolutionary changes in the school education.

He said the thrust of the entire project will be to strengthen foundation of schools and provide training and skill development to teachers, facilitate State-level assessment and ensure effective education management and information system.