VISAKHAPATNAM: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday announced the State government will provide Rs 50 crore for the development of Andhra University out of Rs 100 crore corpus fund.” A matching Rs 50 crore will be provided by the AAA.
He was addressing the Andhra University Alumni Association (AAA) Waves 2019. Jagan promised creation of the fund after AAA founder chairperson Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao requested for it. Jagan initially told the AAA to raise half the funds after which he would sanction the remaining within no time. Hundreds of old students from the university and its affiliated colleges attended the alumni meet.
Earlier, the Chief Minister was given a rousing welcome with ‘Thank You’ placards held by the students for his recent announcements such as English medium education in government schools and establishment of skill development centres in the State.
Addressing the students, the Chief Minister said: “In the next four years, our children from the government schools will be writing their SSC examinations in English. With the first priority for school-level education under Nadu-Nedu programme, the next development will be in the realm of higher education, where every course learnt by students will be to get employment.”
According to Jagan, there are about 77 per cent children in India who have dropped out from school. The government has plans to revamp the education system, he said.
“Andhra University is the pride of Andhra Pradesh with Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Kattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy having had served as vice-chancellors. Standing 14th among top universities in India is something laudable, but this university has the potential to be among the top five universities for which a lot of change should be made in the education system,” the Chief Minister said. He expressed concern over the 459 vacancies not being filled in the university.
Jagan asked the students to give one year of their education life for learning an employment development course. “Degree courses can be expanded from three to four years— the last year can be for apprenticeship. Similarly, engineering course too can be enlarged up to five years where the students can take either BCom (Hons) or BTech (Hons). The government will soon revamp the education system; every home will have a child going for higher studies,” he said.
On the occasion, the Chief Minister asked the AU alumni to come up with suggestions on the revamp of education system.
Tech Mahindra chief executive officer CP Gurnani, who presided over, request for an artificial intelligence (AI) lab in Engineering College was responded positively. “When I was in Vizag, I felt I came to a grand old university, but the level of excitement totally changed my thoughts,” Gurnani said. During his visit to the AU, he interacted with the old students of the Engineering College.
AU Vice-Chancellor PVGD Prasada Reddy, in his address, said it was on the government’s initiative that the university has increased engineering seats. In the past six months, various development works were sanctioned in the campus, including MoUs and establishment of skill development centres.