VIJAYAWADA: Government schools in the State are set to get a new look. As many as 12,918 primaries and 3,832 high schools have been shortlisted for the new makeover in the first phase of the Badi Parivartana programme. At a review meeting with the Education Department here on Saturday, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy had taken the decision to implement the systematic school transformation programme for the development of education in the State.
The new makeover of government schools includes the provision of basic amenities and improvement of educational infrastructure. As on date, the Education Department has uploaded the pictures and videos of the current state of 42,655 schools, which account for 98 per cent of the total number of schools in the State. All these pictures and videos will be the reference and after the completion of the makeover, again the pictures and videos will be taken and compared with old ones.
Though the officials stated that 10.88 lakh photos and videos pertaining to the state of government schools are uploaded, they are not made visible in the public domain, which is being questioned by educationalists. There is a special website dedicated to the transformation of government schools under the Badi Parivartana programme.
Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy instructed the officials to construct additional classrooms in schools and make sure every class has one dedicated teacher, rather than one teacher for all classes. With a strict academic calendar, the teacher recruitment should take place and all the vacant posts in schools should be filled in accordance with the set student-teacher ratio, he added.
Speaking on the initiative of the State government, MLC KS Lakshman Rao said, “The government should maintain transparency pertaining to Badi Parivartana programme. Officials should sort out the pictures of government schools district and Mandal-wise and upload them along with dateline. If they fail to take proper measures in this regard, the transformation of schools will be limited only to review meetings and will remain on paper.”