VIJAYAWADA: “Today should be better than yesterday, tomorrow should be better than today and we should attempt to have the best future,” Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has said, adding that the “best future” is possible only with a good education, which provides good livelihood.
On Sunday, the chief minister released Rs 698.68 crore under the Jagananna Vidya Deevena towards total fee reimbursement of 9.86 lakh at Thiruvuru in NTR District. The beneficiaries comprised students pursuing ITI, Polytechnic, Degree, Engineering, Medicine etc for the quarter October to December 2022.
The amount, released by the CM with a click of a button, would directly go into the bank accounts of students’ mothers.
Addressing a huge gathering of students and parents, Jagan Reddy said that the fate of the poor can be changed for the better through education only. The Vidya Deevena was introduced with the sole aim of providing higher education to poor students, the CM said.
Observing that the face of classrooms in schools is changing fast with digitalization, the chief minister vowed to bring the government schools in the state on par with the corporate schools. “Give me two years, I will remove the impression that government schools can’t compete with corporate schools,” he said.
“The face of the government schools will undergo total change to force the corporate schools to compete with the former,” the CM said and asked the students and parents to call 1902 if they faced any issue with colleges so that the CMO will directly intervene and engage the colleges.
Citing the instance of IAS officer S Dilli Rao who hails from a poor family in Srikakulam district becoming the collector of NTR District, the CM said each and every student should strive to rise to eminent positions in life.
Reiterating his stand that money spent on education is investment on students’ future, Jagan gave a clarion call to students to work hard and strive to become Satya Nadellas while leaving the fee burden to the government, which would “handhold them” as they pursue the best academic courses.
Promising that the government is ready to bear the fee of professional students irrespective of the number of such students in each family and irrespective of the fee amount, Jagan said investment in education was a first priority for the government.
The chief minister said the government has so far transferred Rs 13,311crore under the Jagananna Vidya Deevena and Vasathi Deevena. Out of this, Rs 9947 crore was spent on Vidya Deevena alone, benefitting 27 lakh students so far.
