1,234 State-run schools to get a fresh look in the first phase in Visakhapatnam

Visakhapatnam: No more drab walls or plain blackboards or non-functional washrooms or fans that hardly operate greet government school students as they will soon paint a new look with the launch of the state government's flagship programme 'Mana badi—Nadu-Nedu' on Children's Day.

About 44,512 schools across the State are going to be covered in the scheme in a phased manner. In Visakhapatnam district, close to 1,234 State-run schools have been shortlisted to be developed in the first phase.

The selected schools would be developed in terms of nine parameters, including functional toilets, providing electricity and drinking water supply, furniture for students and the staff, fixing up major and minor repair works along with facilitating green-glassy chalk boards, additional classrooms and compound walls.

After the completion of the school-wise survey through the School Transformation Management System (STMS) App, the walls of the campus will get a fresh coat of paint.

With the support of the Andhra Pradesh Samagra Shiksha, Tribal Welfare Department and Andhra Pradesh Education Welfare Infrastructure Development Corporation, the Education Department pull out all stops to ensure the effective implementation of Nadu-Nedu.

Interestingly, parents' committees will play a crucial role as they are involved in planning, designing, procuring, building, monitoring and evaluating along with fund management of the scheme. "The master trainees will train engineering assistants, educational coordinators and cluster resources persons. The trained resource persons will again train mandal-level teams, Headmasters and parents committee members as a part of the Nadu-Nedu," says M Satya Prasad, Management information system and planning coordinator of Samagra Shiksha.

Of the 4,162 schools in Viskhapatnam district, 754 primary schools, 226 upper primary schools and 254 high schools in various constituencies would be benefited in the first phase.