The Hindu Business Line : Revamp primary education set-up, Centre tells AP

Five districts in the State, including Hyderabad and Kurnool, accounted for 62 per cent of the out-of-school children in the State. Mahaboobnagar has the dubious distinction of having 1.35 lakh children, while the State capital had 49,360.

Hyderabad , Jan. 21

THE Centre has asked the Andhra Pradesh Government to firm up its recruitment and infrastructure development plans with regard to education so as to speed up the process of providing universal primary education for all.

Addressing a meeting of officials of School Education Department and non-governmental organisations working in the education segment, Mr S.C. Tripathi, Secretary (Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India), said there were about 5,000 schools in districts such as Adilabad, Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam, which had only one teacher. "You should increase the number to two," he said.

"We have to see what kind of difficulties are being faced by the Government in this regard," he said.

He, however, said that the neighbouring Karnataka and Tamil Nadu fared better. "Overall, the South does better," he felt.

The visiting Secretary had a brisk day visiting schools and several education-related schemes, including the mid-day meal scheme. Mr Tripathi, who had his lunch with school children at a Shadnagar school in Mahaboobnagar district, said the food was tasty and hot.

In an obvious reference to Mr I.V. Subba Rao's, Principal Secretary (School Education), presentation on the state of school education in the State, Mr Tripathi, without mincing words, said the State needed to speed up things. He observed that there was a gap in the sanctions and the targets achieved in some areas.

"On construction front too, you have to expedite the process. We stand committed to sanction of teachers, schools and rooms," he said.

Referring to the 6.4 lakh out-of-school children in the State, the Secretary said the State needed to verify the figure. "Karnataka with less number of people have about 10 lakh out-of-school children. Maybe, the AP's figure is correct. But the apprehension is that there may be others who are not included in the list," he said.

In his presentation, Mr Subba Rao said five districts in the State, including Hyderabad and Kurnool, accounted for 62 per cent of the total out-of-school children. Mahaboobnagar has the dubious distinction of having 1.35 lakh children, while the State capital had 49,360.

Listing various growth indices in the area of school education, the State needed to focus on data validation, monitoring bridge courses and coordinating and building linkages to effectively check child labour.

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