Education minister Nara Lokesh says Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Vidyarthi Mitra initiative aims to boost government school standards above corporate institutions.
Education minister Nara Lokesh (Image:DC)
VIJAYAWADA: Education minister Nara Lokesh disclosed that to improve the quality of education in Andhra Pradesh, the state government has launched the Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Vidyarthi Mitra initiative, which is expected to help government schools surpass their corporate counterparts in results.
He underlined that the Vidyarthi Mitra kits, costing ₹953 crore are being distributed to over 35 lakh students for the first time. The kits include uniforms, shoes, belts, socks, school bags, textbooks, notebooks, workbooks, and Oxford dictionaries, all of high quality in attractive, student-friendly colours.
The kits have undergone a rigorous three-layer quality check carried out by the Quality Council of India (QCI) before being distributed. “Only those products that have passed all stages of check have been dispatched to schools. To ensure transparency, Quality Walls have been set up at mandal stock points to test and display the kit items,” Lokesh pointed out.
He maintained that this is the first time that government-provided kits are free from any political branding. During the previous YSRC regime, the kits had been branded as Jagananna Vidya Kanuka and featured the image of then chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy.
Officials said students have received their kits with enthusiasm. The government has distributed these kits to over 35.94 lakh students from Classes 1 to 10 across government and aided schools. While the total budget earmarked for the kits is ₹953.71 crore, ₹778.68 crore is the share of the state, while ₹175.03 crore have been contributed by the centre.
Each kit is valued at approximately ₹2,279. The government has also borne the stitching charges, ₹120 for Classes 1–8 and ₹240 for Classes 9–10, which has ensured that uniforms are ready to wear.
Officials shared that each student receives three sets of uniform cloth, olive green pants / gowns and light yellow-green striped shirts), one pair of shoes, two pairs of socks, a belt, a school bag, textbooks, workbooks, and notebooks and an Oxford English-English-Telugu dictionary for Class 6 students, pictorial dictionaries for Class 1 students and dictionaries in regional / minority languages like Urdu, Tamil, and Odia.
Each kit is valued at approximately ₹2,279. The government has also borne the stitching charges, ₹120 for Classes 1–8 and ₹240 for Classes 9–10, which has ensured that uniforms are ready to wear.
Officials shared that each student receives three sets of uniform cloth, olive green pants / gowns and light yellow-green striped shirts), one pair of shoes, two pairs of socks, a belt, a school bag, textbooks, workbooks, and notebooks and an Oxford English-English-Telugu dictionary for Class 6 students, pictorial dictionaries for Class 1 students and dictionaries in regional / minority languages like Urdu, Tamil, and Odia.
( Source : Deccan Chronicle )
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