Vijayawada: Nara Lokesh vows to cleanse education sector

Vijayawada : Minister for education, information technology (IT) and electronics Nara Lokesh on Friday made it clear that he will take all possible steps to totally cleanse the academic sector in the state in the coming one year.

Lokesh conducted a detailed review with the officers of the education department on the changes to be made in the colleges and the universities along with the steps to be taken to improve the academic standards. He also focussed on the teacher vacancies to be filled in degree colleges and universities, changes to be made in the curriculum to improve the standards in higher education.

He enquired about the existing fee structure in private engineering colleges, basic facilities in the government degree and junior colleges besides the steps to be initiated to increase the admission rate in these institutions.

The minister told the officials that Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is very keen on increasing the rankings of the universities and that the curriculum be upgraded to meet the growing needs of the industrial sector.

How a student who is taking coaching at an institute in Ameerpet in Hyderabad for just four months is getting such nice skills when a student after pursuing four-year engineering in a college could not get, Lokesh asked and told the officials to take necessary measures to see to impart necessary coaching at the engineering colleges itself. He told the officers to work with dedication and commitment to increase the academic standards in the colleges.

The minister directed the officers to prepare a note on the division of the properties of higher education institutions and also enquired about the fall in ranking of the educational institutions. He wanted steps to be taken to fill the teacher vacancies across the state after resolving the legal tangles and that the transfer of teachers of degree colleges should be in a very transparent manner.

The meeting also focussed on the details of the tests to be conducted by the Andhra Pradesh Public Service Commission (APPSC) and Lokesh directed the officers to submit a report on the details of the admission process in the degree colleges in the past 10 years.

Observing that the previous government had created various problems to the students by discontinuing the direct fee reimbursement scheme and replacing it with schemes like Vidya Deevena and Vasathi Deevena, Lokesh said the end result of this is that over six lakh students did not get back their certificates from their respective educational institutions.

The dues to be cleared under the Vidya Deevena are about Rs 3,480 crore, the minister said and directed the officers to talk to the educational institutions and see to it that the students get back their certificates.

Secretary of higher education Sourab Gour, commissioner of Intermediate Education, Pola Bhaskar, chairman of the AP Higher Education Council, K Rammohan Rao and Secretary of the AP Higher Education Regulatory and Monitoring Commission Suryachandra Rao are among those who were present at the review meeting.