Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu demanded the State government to withdraw the proposed merger of municipal schools with the Education Department.
In a statement on Wednesday, the TDP chief accused the government of ‘hatching a conspiracy to take over the prime properties of over 2,115 municipal schools in cities and towns across the State’.
“Where was the need for a merger when the municipal schools are achieving good results? Moreover, these schools have been catering to the educational needs of students from poorer sections for over 160 years,” he said.
“The respective municipal bodies are paying the salaries to the non-teaching staff in their municipal schools. Who will pay their salaries if these schools are merged with the Education Department? The municipal bodies are also paying electricity bills of the schools,” he said.
Mr. Naidu claimed that the government has not learnt its lessons from previous mistakes. “The managements of aided schools successfully fought a legal battle against a similar merger plan. The government, at that time, made nefarious plans to forcibly take over and occupy properties of aided institutions,” he alleged.
