The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has launched a scathing attack on the state government alleging closure of 8,000 schools in the state.
Addressing the media on Thursday, TDP official spokesperson K Pattabhiram said that the state government has put the future of the students at stake with the sole objective of getting a World Bank loan of Rs 2,000 crore.
“The Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) report states that there are conditions imposed for availing the loan. The condition is that the departments shall avoid escalating recurring human resource (HR) expenditure while keeping the additional requirement, if any, to a minimum,” he said.
The report further stated that Support Andhra’s Learning Transformation (SALT) project with a US$250 million (₹2,000 crore) line of credit from the World Bank aims to promote various initiatives in school education such as Nadu-Nedu and Parichar was. The TDP leader said that the medium of instruction in government schools is English.
He alleged that the students from primary to high school are facing difficulties due to the policies of the government.
“The merger of primary schools with high schools has resulted in the closure of 8,000 schools. The report throws light on the failures and misconceptions of the government,” he said.
“The drop in enrollment is quite high at 2.80 lakh. The average annual dropout rate at the secondary level in 2021 was significantly higher at 16.7%. The grade-wise annual average dropout rate in Class 10 is 31.3%. 39,008 posts of teachers are vacant in government primary schools.