Minister Nara Lokesh Announces Backpacks for Intermediate Students by July 15

The Minister for Human Resources, IT, and Electronics, Nara Lokesh, conducted a review meeting with senior officials of the Education Department at his residence in Undavalli today. The discussions focused on educational infrastructure and issues such as dropout rates. Lokesh emphasized initiating changes in the education system.

He instructed the education officials to ensure full infrastructure in schools within a year. Lokesh announced a key decision to provide textbooks, notebooks, and backpacks to students in government intermediate colleges by July 15. He expressed surprise that the previous government did not provide these essential items to the students. He questioned how students could study without textbooks and directed officials to arrange immediate distribution of textbooks.

Lokesh also addressed the need to complete both ongoing and previous phases of work within a year. He reviewed the quality of midday meals provided to students in government schools, asking for a comprehensive report on measures to enhance their taste and quality from Ambedkar, the director of the midday meal scheme.

He instructed officials to study sanitation policies in schools from other states and the methods followed by the Delhi government. Additionally, he directed the comprehensive analysis of student transfers from government to private schools over the past five years, including reasons for these changes, and requested a detailed report from the SPD of Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan. Lokesh asked for information on general dropouts, the distance of schools from villages, and reasons for the closure of schools in the past five years.

Lokesh instructed the Libraries Director to identify the best library models in the country and provide a review note. He also suggested submitting a comprehensive note on the utilization of Byju’s content and IFB usage. Officials were asked to prepare a detailed note on CBSE schools, actions taken for the 82,000 students appearing for the 10th-grade exams this year, and the type of training to be provided to students.

Moreover, Lokesh ordered an account of the bicycles purchased during the previous TDP government, which were later sidelined. He affirmed that future teacher transfers would be conducted transparently, reinstating the transparent policies previously implemented by their government. He also directed the preparation of plans to fully utilize central funds.

The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary of School Education Praveen Prakash, Commissioner of Board of Intermediate Education Saurabh Gaur, Commissioner of School Infrastructure Bhaskar Katamaneni, State Project Director B. Srinivasa Rao, Director of Midday Meal Scheme Ambedkar, Director of Adult Education Nidhi Meena, and Director of Public Libraries Prasanna Kumar Reddy, among others.