Hyderabad, Aug.31 (NSS): Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) working president KT Rama Rao today alleged that the Congress government in the State was neglecting school education sector and depriving the poor and middle class students of their studies. He also alleged that attempts were made to shut down as many as 1,864 schools this year due to lack of students.
“It is a matter of shame that the government, which is supposed to strengthen the government schools and provide quality education to the poor and middle class students, wants to close down the schools without taking steps in that direction. The number of admissions in government schools in 2024 declined by nearly 2.4 lakh compared to the previous year. This is a sign of danger to the State’s education sector. Within eight months, the Congress government has messed up government education,” he alleged.
KTR said the plight was due to the fact that the government, which is supposed to identify the reasons about the number of students in government schools going down and address those issues, was in a state of hibernation. He alleged that admissions in government schools were coming down mainly due to the lack of number of teachers in line with the number of students. He said there were about 25,000 posts of teachers lying vacant in the State and added that they need to be filled up immediately. He said the government which is supposed to solve the problems, was creating problems.
“In many places, students are not able to get the government education due to the closure of schools on the ground that there are no students and teachers are being sent to other schools on deputation. Besdes, the Congress government has brought about a situation where parents are afraid of getting admitted to the government schools due to lack of proper infrastructure, lack of quality food, lack of cleanliness and security in schools and welfare hostels. Incidents in the last few days in gurukul schools, poisonous food in hostels, lack of security and closure of schools due to lack of students are a matter of concern. This is not good for the Telangana society at all,” said KTR. He said it was the responsibility of the government to provide quality education to poor and the middle class students. He criticized the Revanth government for looking for lame excuses to escape that responsibility.
KTR recalled that during the 10 years of KCR’s rule, many initiatives were taken up to promote public education. “We have started more than 1,000 gurukul schools like never before and provided quality food to the students,” he recalled. He said steps had been taken to introduce English media education in the government schools and take up education at par with private schools. “Apart from this, in the name of Mana Ooru – Mana Badi program , our government had spent nearly Rs 7,289 crore for providing infrastructure and quality education in the government schools. Pucca buildings have also been set up for the school through corporate social response (CSR) funds. He alleged that the Congress government, which should have further strengthened the path laid down by KCR, was behaving without wisdom. He questioned as to why schools were being closed without focusing on prevention and exploring the reasons for the decline in student admissions in schools? “Does this mean that the Revanth Reddy government does not want poor and middle class students to study,” he asked. He questioned whether the CM wanted to close the schools by creating problems in the government schools while stating that it is a matter of concern that this most important issue is being ignored so much.
“The State does not have an education minister. The Chief Minister does not care about the education system. Since coming to power, this CM has so much to do with people’s issues other than politics and diversion tactics,” he said. He said that a minister should be appointed to the education department immediately and efforts should be made to solve the problems. KTR demanded that a committee of educationists and ministers be set up to make suggestions on the reasons for the decline in the number of students in government schools and the steps to be taken to strengthen government education.
He warned that if the government does not immediately focus on the issues of the education sector, the BRS party would launch large-scale agitations. KTR said if injustice was done to the parents of lakhs of poor students, who are dependent on the education provided by the government, they would give a befitting reply to the government.
