As part of the Vanaparthi tour, CM KCR launched the Mana Uru-Mana Badi program. The Chief Minister opined that it would go a long way in strengthening public education. He mentioned that the English medium will be introduced in schools from the next academic year. After giving a brief speech about the basic things, KCR left the stage.
Analysts are raising a number of questions in the wake of KCR’s comments. KCR said that the appearance of schools will change in the future, they are questioning how is it different from anything others had done. They are wondering how extensively things changed with the schools in the last 8 years, adding that KCR must be held accountable for the dire conditions of the schools in several districts. They are also reminding of the situation of the students of Hanmakonda district, Hassan, where a number of students were injured due to the roof scabs at Perthi ZP High School.
On this occasion, the discussion on budget allocations has also begun in the state. Although Rs 7,289 crore has been earmarked for the education sector, analysts are raising questions about how much will be spent on it. Retired IAS officer Akunuri Murali, who spoke at the outset with Tolivelugu elaborated on the same. He was seen saying, “we have been observing the plight of public schools in the state for many days. We have been visiting the districts ourselves.”
“It is said that allocations are made in the budget but the government does not spend the same amount of money that was promised. He has released a graph of the budget allocations and expenditure on education since the TRS government came to power. Expenditure on education has been falling sharply since 2014. At least this time in the budget, there is no mention of the Mana Uru-Mana Badi program,” said Murali.
He said the Telangana government is clearly depriving poor students of basic education. He further added that he visited over 7 districts till now and most of the schools are only getting worse with time. Murali even spoke about a particular school where there were a thousand students at some point and the count came down to 40. “There are schools in the state that do not even have toilets,” he said.
Murali estimated that it would take Rs 83,800 crore a year to run the entire education system in the state. He was of the view that the total budget allocated for the education sector could be enough only for the salaries.