Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on May 24 (Wednesday) asserted that “human capital investment, including ₹14,912 crore spent on education over the past four years,” would not lead to bankruptcy of the State.
Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy was addressing the students at a roadshow here after releasing ₹703 crore towards reimbursement of college fee of the 9.95 lakh students for the quarter January to March under the Jagananna Vidya Deevena scheme, at Kovvur in East Godavari district.
“The budget being spent on education should be seen as human capital investment, which changes the fate of the future of Andhra Pradesh. Such investment will not lead to bankruptcy, but will help equip the State with skilled manpower,” Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said.
“We have realised that education is the only way to brings the poor out of the clutches of poverty and guarantees social and financial stability. Our four-year journey has been on this path, which believes that higher education is the right of every household in the State,” Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said.
Enrolment ratio
Referring to the enrolment rate in higher education, the Chief Minister said, “In 2018-19, more than 81,000 people had dropped out after Intermediate. The number reduced to 22,387 by 2022-23. In engineering education, the enrolment was 87,000 in 2018-19 against 1.20 lakh now. The reimbursement of fee for any course is the driving factor for the rise in the enrolment rate.”
The Chief Minister assured that the State government would reimburse the complete course fee, without any cap, for those who pursue higher studies abroad.
Reacting to the opposition parties’ allegation of financial crisis in the State, the Chief Minister said. “An amount of ₹3 lakh crore has been spent on welfare schemes, including housing and ₹2.10 lakh crore through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), since 2019. However, the spending is still not exceeding the budgets of the previous government.”
Later, the Chief Minister sanctioned ₹30 crore for the buildings of the new Government Degree College at Kovvur and three Dr. B.R. Ambedkar buildings in the Kovvuru Assembly segment.
Ministers Ch. Venu Gopala Krishna (in-charge of East Godavari), T. Vanita (Home), Botcha Satyanarayana (Education) were among others present.
