After court cases, the Jaganmohan Reddy government is now facing public protests opposing the takeover of government-aided private schools in Andhra Pradesh.
In one such incident in Visakhapatnam on Monday, students and parents of Sacred Hearts girls high school blocked an arterial road in the city for hours demanding the YSRCP government “to let them study in peace.”
“We do not want Amma-vodi, free uniforms-shoes etc. We just want our school. Please let us get education the proper way,” students requested the officials. The infuriated parents also questioned a local MLA who tried to pacify them while supporting the CM's decision.
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Amma-vodi is the cash incentive scheme Jagan had introduced for poor parents sending their wards to schools. The state is also providing free school kits consisting of uniforms, shoes, books etc to kids.
Some of these protest videos with “CM Down Down” slogans were shared by the opposition TDP and Janasena on social media platforms.
“These children are asking if you would close their schools. What answer would you give them, Shakuni mama,” questioned TDP general secretary Nara Lokesh on Twitter, taking a swipe at Jagan who refers to himself as mama (maternal uncle) of students?
In its orders in August, the education department said it would take over the management and assets of the willing private aided schools. The government’s argument was that education in state-run schools has improved lately with Jagan “focusing on upgrading the school infrastructure.”
Officials have been claiming that the change has resulted in the decline of enrollments in private and aided schools, which were anyway struggling to survive after the Covid-19 pandemic.
While several private aided schools are said to have opted for the scheme already, some managements have approached the Andhra Pradesh high court complaining of “strong-arm tactics” by the government to make them surrender. The petitioners argued that the government's move was also violative of the Right to Education Act.
Earlier this month, the court has reportedly directed the government not to coerce the unwilling managements to sign the merger offer and to continue their grants till further orders.
Following the protests, CM Reddy clarified that “there is no compulsion in handing over the aided educational institutions to the government.”
“Run without proper infrastructure or staff, the condition of most of these institutions was deteriorating. An opportunity was provided for such schools to hand over so that the government could run them," Reddy said in a review on education on Monday, according to the CMO sources.
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