New KVs to spur growth

Hyderabad: Union Cabinet’s decision to allot as many as ten out of 54 Kendriya Vidyalayas for Andhra Pradesh has become shot in arm for the education sector in the state. Out of these ten KVs, seven will be set up in Telangana region and three in Seemandhra. The new schools will be established in the districts of Adilabad, Karimnagar, Medak, Nizamabad, Nalgonda Warangal and Secunderabad in Telangana whereas in Seemandhra, they would be in Guntur, Kadapa and East Godavari districts.

This will take the number of KV schools in the state to 52. There are 12 KVs in Defense, 26 in Civil and four in project sectors. The total number of students at present is roughly 50,000.

Experts are of the opinion that the new schools would spur growth as well as competition in education sector.

“As many parents are evincing interest in imparting CBSE syllabus to their wards to prepare them for national-level examinations which are based on same syllabi, Kendriya Vidyalayas will be one such stop where quality of teaching would be available. Although many private schools have also adopted CBSE curriculum, KVs are different. The Comprehensive and Continuous Evaluation (CCE) of every student will be done religiously and without any bias in KVs. This would help all round growth of the children” Dr Krishna Prasad, Retired Principal of ISRO schools said.

“Increase in number of KVs will definitely be of great advantage to the students. Constant revision of syllabus, science fairs, national tours, project works are definitely better than those of state government institutions. The teachers would also learn simultaneously thereby bringing quality in teaching and learning” Aruna Devi, a retired teacher who worked in several KVs in the state felt.

In an attempt to counter the Kendriya Vidyalayas, the state government has set up 355 Model schools from this academic year. The teaching will be in English and the syllabus is totally on the lines of CBSE.

“Definitely, Model Schools will face tough competition from KVs as the first preference of parents will always be for KVs. This will of course be a healthy competition. Unless the Model Schools upgrade themselves and introduce new concepts and continuously take up projects, they will be out of race,” an official of Secondary Education warned.

The Central Cabinet has given its nod for setting up of National Institute of Design at Vijayawada. This is the first major institute that would come up in Seemandhra region. “Since NIFT (National Institute of Fashion Technology) has its branch in Hyderabad, it would be fair to have a NID at Vijayawada”, an official of Higher Education Department remarked. NID has campuses at Ahmedabad and Bengaluru.