VIJAYAWADA: In yet another first in the entire country, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday launched the ‘Jagananna Vidya Kanuka’ scheme, which provides preparatory educational kits to school students in the state. The novel scheme, seen in awe by many across the country, is the brainchild of YS Jagan to achieve the larger objective of enhancing student interest towards schooling and reduce the dropout rate in government schools.
The AP CM formally inaugurated the one of its kind scheme at an event organized at the ZP High School of Punadipadu of Kankipadu mandal in Krishna district on Thursday morning. To set this unique programme rolling, he gave away school kits to students of various grades between 1st and 10th standard and blessed them to do well in their studies. On this occasion, YS Jagan also joined the students in a classroom to get a first-hand feel of the refurbished amenities which were recently carried out in all the schools across the state as part of another innovative scheme ‘Nadu-Nedu’ (Then and Now).
The chief minister not only sat with the students in a classroom and but even chatted up with some of the students on what they felt about the facelift given to government schools to bring them on par with the facilities provided in private educational institutions. The state government has embarked on this unique scheme with the objective of increasing the number of enrollments in the government schools besides achieving greater results in academics. A total of 42,34,322 students studying in all government schools across the state will benefit from this scheme. The school kits that will be distributed to them from Thursday comprise seven key components that are necessary for their schooling and education. The scheme particularly helps students from poor families as it alleviates the hardships for them in procuring various utilities and study material which in turn encourages them to flock back to the government-run schools.
The state government has taken up this mammoth exercise to distribute the school kits free of cost to these students at a staggering cost of Rs 650 crores. Each kit comprises cloth for three pairs of school uniform, a pair of shoes, two pairs of socks, a belt besides textbooks and notebooks and a school bag. The kits are being handed over well in advance to the students so that they can get their uniforms stitched and prepare themselves in time by the time the schools reopen in the state. The expenses towards uniform stitching will be borne by the state government.
A total of 3.13 crores of textbooks, 2.19 crores of notebooks and 1.27 crore pieces of cloth for the purpose of uniform are among the items being given as part of each kit. School bags have been designed in two different hues -- sky blue bags for boys and navy blue bags for girls. Making the scheme completely burden-free for the beneficiaries, the YS Jagan government will credit money towards uniform stitching expenses directly in the bank accounts of the students’ mothers. For three pairs of uniform for each student, an amount of Rs 120 will be disbursed as the stitching expenses.
While ensuring the quality of the school kits, all the required items were procured through a transparent system of reverse-tendering and e-procurement.
Speaking on this momentous occasion, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said that only education has the power of transforming this world and hoped for the day when the under-privileged children would evolve and compete with the best in the world. He exhorted the students to use education as a powerful tool for their development. “It is every parent’s dream and desire to see their children study well and come up in life. But the previous regime never bothered about the dropout rate in government schools. To get their children study in English medium used to be a highly burdensome proposition for them in the past,” he said.
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