Under the aegis of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, the Andhra Pradesh Education Department has now made a very critical decision by withdrawing G.O. 117, which literally has caused a great storm in the school education scenario. The news is being viewed with excitement by teachers and teachers’ unions as it has come when this G.O. 117 was issued during the then regime of YSR Congress Party.
To this, the teachers’ unions are vehemently campaigning for a dual-language education delivery with both English and Telugu to upgrade the provision of education for the students.
In one such meeting, Director, Andhra Pradesh Education Department, Vijayaramaraju, met leaders of various teacher unions to discuss important issues related to education. He declared that model primary schools will be made available in each major panchayat and that good quality education should not only be confined to the cities. He urged the teachers to share their view on the policies that have been enacted under the previous YSR Congress government.
The meeting also addressed potential problems with a curriculum change for the third, fourth, and fifth grades. He pointed out that decisions have to be discussed with parents and a final choice made because there is a need to consider the voices of families in a process. Union leaders asked him to reconsider the six-day residential training program intended for teachers during an orientation program and make desirable adjustments to suit their needs.
In addition, the respective unions wanted Director Vijayaramaraju to implement the policies numbered 29, 42, and 53 issued in 2017 by the erstwhile Telugu Desam Party government. These are meant to ensure that only qualified teachers handle specific subjects regardless of the number of students in those classes.
With assembly elections around the corner, TDP chief N. Chandrababu Naidu reassured the teachers’ unions that the NDA would scrap G.O. 117 if they came to power. Now, Naidu has finally fulfilled his election promise with the formation of the alliance government.