Vishakhapatanam: “Our school is so beautiful now. We like to spend more time here than at home,” was the orchestrated reaction of a large number of smartly-attired students from KDPM High School at Chinna Waltair in Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) limits when Deccan Chronicle asked them ‘How is your school?’
Like the students, even teachers said “We were surprised to see our school after the Covid-induced lockdown. We feel like the good old days have returned to government schools.”
One Galaavilli Harika, IX standard student, said "I did not expect that I would be studying in such a wonderful school, which looks better than corporate institutions."
Anakapalli GVMC girls’ high school headmistress B. Hemalatha said that the government selected heads of best performing schools for special acclaim. "I was one of the proud teachers to be felicitated by the Chief Minister during the Nadu-Nedu programme in East Godavari," Hemalatha said.
GVMC deputy educational officer D. Srinivas said that the government has renovated 50 of the 147 schools in GVMC limits under the Nadu-Nedu scheme by spending `13 crore in the first phase. Forty more schools have been selected for the second phase, he added.
“We have received nearly 15 per cent more admissions compared to the previous year. It could go up by another five per cent in the next few weeks. An increase in the number of new admissions can directly be attributed to the scheme," Srinivas told this correspondent.
He said that the strength of all government schools could touch 30,000 while last academic year saw only 21,000 students. This year schools will report ‘houseful’ strength, he said.
Nearly 70 new teachers would be required against the existing 985 teachers, said a teachers' union leader.
Meanwhile, former minister KS Jawahar on Saturday accused the Jagan Mohan Reddy government of bringing the Nadu-Nedu programme only to give contracts to YSRC leaders, who will loot public wealth.
Jawahar demanded a detailed probe into the huge corruption that exists as many ruling party leaders are claiming bills without doing any work under the scheme in some schools. In other schools, they did poor quality work but claimed exorbitant bills. In some instances, they collected money for more works than they actually carried out.
