Education key to end poverty, stresses CM YS Jagan

Adoni (Kurnool district): For the third consecutive year, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy distributed Jagananna Vidya Kanuka kits to 47.4 lakh students at a cost of Rs 931 crore as schools across the state were reopened on Tuesday.

Addressing a public meeting here on Tuesday, the Chief Minister emphasised the need to provide quality education to every student for eliminating poverty and stated that everyone should study in English medium. In regard to Vidya Kanuka kits, he said that it was a gift to the students from their uncle, and there will not be any compromise on the quality of the contents.

He said that the value of the kit has been increasing over the years and went up to Rs 2,000, as the kit quality also gets improving. In the academic year 2020-21, each kit was valued at Rs 1,530 and was distributed to over 42 lakh students at an expenditure of Rs 650 crore. In 2021-22, the cost of the kit increased to Rs 1,726 and was given to over 45 lakh students at a cost of Rs 790 crore. In the current academic year 2022-23, each kit costs Rs 1,964, which will be distributed to 47 lakh students with an expenditure of Rs 931 crore.

The kit comprises three pairs of unstitched uniform, bilingual textbooks, workbooks, notebooks, a school bag, shoes, belt and two pairs of socks and an Oxford Dictionary. It is given to the new admissions and to those who lost their previous one. The Chief Minister said that the government will be providing Tabs to 4.7 lakh Class 8 students with Byju's content free of cost, with an additional expenditure of Rs 500 crore.

He stated that in three years, the overall admissions in government schools across the state increased by 7.2 lakh, registering a total strength of 44.3 lakh students in the academic year 2021-22. With nine initiatives as Mana Badi Nadu-Nedu, Vidya Kanuka, Jagananna Gorumuddha, Sampoorna Poshana, Amma Vodi, English Medium education, Vidya Deevena, Vasati Deevena, and pact with Byju's, revolutionary changes were brought in the education sector.

He said that the government is making Byju's app available to underprivileged children, which would change the lives of poor students and the content would guide them to learn better, as content provided by Byju's will make it easier for children to achieve good results.

"Byju's content was not available without paying Rs 20,000 per year towards a subscription, whereas the government has made it available for free to the students studying in government schools," said the Chief Minister. On this occasion, he interacted with the students and also checked the kits to see whether all the contents were in place. Later, he announced plans to take up developmental projects in Adoni.

Ministers Botcha Satyanarayana, Gummanuru Jayaram, MLA Sai Prasad Reddy, party leaders, and various other officials were present at the event.