TIRUPATI:Reiterating that the government is determined to develop Tirupati as an education hub, education minister Ganta Srinivas Rao students will have enormous opportunities in technical subjects.
The minister, accompanied by forests minister B Gopala Krishna Reddy, held a meeting with district officials on Tuesday to review the arrangements for the ground-breaking ceremonies of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) and Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) at Merlapaka village of Yerpedu mandal and Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Sri City in Satyavedu mandal in the district.
Later, at a press conference at TUDA office, he said chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu is keen to have the institutes near Tirupati.
Though some people maintained that there is no such need at Tirupati as the nearby Chennai is already having such institutes, Naidu considers the temple town as the only option in the state, he said.
“These institutions will elevate the city and inspire students to pursue higher education,” the minister said.
The ground-breaking ceremony will be held on March 28 where Union human resources minister Smriti Irani would be attending as chief guest. “We are planning to make students participate in the programme. District authorities have been told to conduct competitions for students and 100 students will be selected. Top five will be given prizes by Union minister and chief minister at the programme,” he said.
People from across the state would be participating in the public meeting after the ceremony. As many as 25,000 are expected to attend the event, he said.
TEMPORARY BUILDINGS
A special team of IIT and IISER, Chennai, is inspecting buildings for conducting classes and providing accommodation to students till the own buildings of the new institutions are completed.