Parents clamour for admissions in government schools in Anantapur

Anantapur: Government schools be it State or ZP schools in the district are experiencing a sort of resurrection due to want of adequate children in proportion to student-teacher ratio, thanks to the 'Amma Vodi' scheme of the Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy government. The schools closed due to rationalisation policy during the chief ministership of Nara Chandrababu Naidu are not only facing prospects of reopening but also experiencing a boom in new children enrolment by a whopping 16,000 students in the new academic year 2019-20 in all the 3,804 government schools in the district.

The government announcement of education grant or incentive of Rs 15000 to every family is the motivation behind the craze for admissions into government schools. The fact that an incentive of Rs 15,000 has triggered newfound love for government schools has become a topic of debate in political and non-political circles and as well as at the Rachabandas of village gatherings.

Narayana Reddy, a parent of government school student at Marthadu village says that the extension of Amma Vodi to private school students is unwelcome as the incentive of Rs 15,000 should be confined to only government schools. What is the rationale behind extending the incentive to moneyed people, he asks and says this will result in a big scam.

However, granting of education incentive is a welcome move. This will restore the glory of government schools of the past, he added. Commenting on the positive development of nearly 16,000 school children from private schools enrolling in government schools, CPI State secretary K Ramakrishna stated that everyone should be happy about it.

He, however, said that the decision of the government to extend the same incentive to private school students is a wrong move and in the long run it will prove to be a self-defeating exercise, as it will tempt the parents to admit their wards in private schools if the same benefit is given to private schools.

The government should concentrate on strengthening government schools and improving the quality of education. Extending the benefit to private schools will only help dilute education in government schools. The government must compete with private schools, he asserted. There are 500 plus government English medium schools in the district. These schools should be transformed into real English-speaking schools.

Deputy DEO Devaraj speaking to The Hans India said that he was happy at more than 15,000 children from private schools joining government schools. He stated that DEO is taking steps to proportionate teacher-student ratio and help improve quality of education. He said that the parents' faith in the government schools should not be watered down.