VIJAYAWADA: The State government’s proposal to take over aided schools and merge them with the government schools continues to draw flak from parents and managements. Instead of merger, the government should constitute a recruitment board and fill up the vacant teacher posts in the aided schools for the benefit of students, teachers association leaders opined. A couple of months ago, the government directed managements of aided educational institutions to either run their institutions ensuring quality or hand them over to the government.
According to the information provided by the State education department, there are 2,203 private aided schools across the State with a student strength of 1.96 lakh and 6,700 teachers. When it comes to the aided junior colleges, the State has 182 with a students’ strength of 71,035 and over 2.50 lakh students are studying in 116 aided degree colleges.
“Most of the private aided schools in the State were founded post Independence by Christian missionaries and other religious organisations. The State government provides salaries for teaching and non-teaching staff of aided institutions. However, since 2004, promotions for existing staff and filling of vacant posts has been stalled. The government should take steps to fill up the vacant teacher posts in the aided institutions instead of seeking consent for merger with the government,” Municipal Teachers Federation (MTF) president S Ramakrishna demanded.
The Andhra Pradesh Patasala Parents Association (APPA) urged the government to stop providing Amma Vodi scheme for the students in aided-schools and allow them to function as usual by filling up the vacant teacher posts.
“Already several parents have approached the High Court opposing the government’s proposal to merge the aided schools with the government. The High Court has directed the State government not to stop release of grant-in-aid to government aided schools in case they are unwilling to merge with the government. The government should recall its proposal and allow the aided schools function as usual by filling the vacant teacher posts,” APPA president P Chandram said.
Not forcing merger: Edu Min
Education Minister Adimulapu Suresh has made it clear that the State government was not forcing any aided educational institution to merge with the government. More than 137 degree colleges have responded positively. Seven colleges have agreed to give up the staff along with the properties, 124 colleges have agreed to surrender only staff, not the property. “If the managements are willing to hand over the schools to the government, we are ready to improve the infrastructure under the Nadu-Nedu and fill up the teaching vacancies to ensure better education for the students,” Suresh explained.