VIJAYAWADA: The Jagan Mohan Reddy government gave top priority to the education sector by allocating Rs 32,618 crore in its maiden budget. For technical education, an outlay of Rs 580.29 crore has been made and Rs 6455.80 for Jagananna Amma Vodi, under which each mother of school-going children will get Rs 15,000 a year. For the development of basic amenities in schools, Rs 1,500 crore has been allocated.
For secondary education, Rs 29,772.79 crore has been allocated, massive growth of 37.76 per cent from the previous budget allocation of Rs 17,197 crore.
Higher education department got Rs 3,021.63 crore as against Rs 1,952.78 crore in the last budget.
For the midday meal scheme, Rs 1,077 crore has been allocated and Rs 160 crore for YSR School Maintenance grant. The Jagan government has also earmarked Rs 100 crore for construction of centralised kitchens for Akshaya Patra Foundation.
The most prestigious project of the school education department, Badikosta, aimed at bringing down the dropout rate among girl students of Class IX by providing them with bicycles will be continued in 2019-20 and, for this purpose, the government has allocated Rs 14.81 crore.
The government also has proposed to spend Rs 426.30 crore for Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA) programme.