Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has directed the officials to complete the ‘Nadu-Nedu’ second phase works in schools as per schedule while focussing on proper maintenance of the schools which have got a facelift under the first phase.
At a review meeting on the Education Department held at the Camp Office here on Friday, the Chief Minister told them to ensure that special attention is paid by the teachers towards students lagging behind others in classrooms and take necessary steps so that they would be on par with others.
He also directed them to complete the installation of IFPs in all schools by December third week and provide broadband connection to all schools.
The Chief Minister directed them to take steps to hand over Vidya Kanuka kits to students before the schools are reopened.
He was informed that works worth Rs 3,746.82 crore are being undertaken under the second phase of Nadu-Nedu and 11 types of necessary facilities would be provided to schools. They also said work is being undertaken at a rapid pace in junior colleges. Officials told him that tabs would be distributed to class 8 students from Dec 21and the tabs would be loaded with all necessary apps. The use of tabs is giving good results as teachers and students are using them for an average of 77 and 67 minutes daily respectively. 7000 tabs have been repaired and put to reuse, they said.
Explaining the steps taken to reduce the dropout rate in schools, officials said that 1,49,515 failed students including class 10 students have rejoined the schools and volunteers are playing a key role in this.
They also said that Nandyala district created history as it became the first district to have 100 per cent enrolment in schools.
When the officials explained that 87 per cent of the students of classes 3 to 9 are taking their unit examinations in English medium, he said that efforts should be made to make the rest also follow suit. They said that the average percentage of students taking examinations in English medium in the State stood at 84.11 as against national average of 37.03%.
They further said that students are being trained for one hour daily in TOEFL and officials have attended the working group meetings on the introduction of (IB) International Baccalaureate curriculum in schools.
While a study would be undertaken on the curriculum, subject plan, assessment and teacher training, teachers would be trained in the teaching of IB to students from next year as per the recommendations of the IB specialists.
Students of class 6 and above would also be trained in future skills with the help of experts from the Engineering Colleges, they said adding that French, Spanish, German and Japanese languages also would be taught to the students of classes 9 and 10 as per their options.
Advisor to Government (Education) A. Sambasiva Reddy, APEWIDC Chairman Nagarjuna Yadav, School Education Principal Secretary Praveen Prakash, Commissioners S. Suresh Kumar and K. Bhaskar (Infrastructure), Finance Secretary KVV Satyanarayana, APHEC Chairman Prof K. Hemachandra Reddy, SSA Stage Project Director B. Srinivasa Rao, APSFL MD M.Madhusudhana Reddy, Govt. Examinations Director D. Devananda Reddy, Nadu-Nedu Technical Director Manohar Reddy and other senior officials were present.