The year 2023 marked a radical transformation of the school education system in the State with the Government rolling out the long-term objective of grooming the students as global citizens with a bright future.
The School Education Department launched a series of initiatives as part of reforms introduced by the Government, in mission mode. Besides giving a facelift to physical infrastructure in the 44,671 State-run schools under the “Mana Badi Nadu-Nedu” programme, the digital transformation of the conventional classrooms got a big push. Implementation of schemes like Jagananna Amma Vodi, Vidya Kanuka and Gorumudda and comprehensive academic and administrative reforms were introduced to improve learning outcomes of children studying in Government schools.
Andhra Pradesh State has a total number of 58,950 schools out of which, 44,617 are in the government sector, 13,249 are private unaided, including Madarasas and 1084 private aided management schools. All these educational institutions collectively accommodate 72,20,633 students, who learn their classroom lessons under the guidance of 2,96,274 teachers. Of them, 1,85,023 work in Government schools.
Realising the need to equip children with the latest technology-induced teaching methods, tabs and Interactive Flat Panels (IFPs) found their way into the classrooms. With a belief that the digital transformation would empower young learners, the government distributed 5,18,740 tabs to Class 8 students and teachers in the academic year 2022-23. These tabs were integrated with Byju’s e-content and the department ensured constant monitoring of the usage of these devices to prevent any possible misuse. “The project cost the State exchequer ₹686 crore but the learning outcomes of students of Class 8 saw a substantial improvement through utilisation of tabs,” says Principal Secretary, of School Education Praveen Prakash.
Under phase-I of Nadu-Nedu, the government claims to have spent ₹427.6 crores for the installation of 30,213 IFPs in all classrooms from Classes 6 to 10, 10,038 Smart TVs in the Foundational Schools.
Amidst criticism by the Opposition parties and teacher unions, the government went ahead and signed a number of Memoranda of Understandings with various companies to usher in the latest modes of teaching in classroom.
As part of its collaboration with the International Baccalaureate, the State intends to introduce IB syllabus in Government schools at the foundation-level initially, which will later be expanded to higher classes gradually. The initiative was launched to make students in State-run schools globally ready.
A partnership with the US-based Educational Testing Service (ETS), is to enable students to improve their communication skills from the basic level by imparting them training for the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL).
To help children clear their academic doubts during their study hours, the department collaborated with an Artificial Intelligence-generated ‘Doubt Clearance’ app.
Collaboration with Duolingo for teaching of foreign languages (Japanese, French) in State-run schools and devising ‘Future Skills’ are latest initiatives. Under the latter, the department has created a high-level working group of industry partners to develop a roadmap for design and execution of a “Future Digital Skills Unique Certification Committee to develop the curriculum.
“The teachers have been equipped with a comprehensive training on leveraging digital devises to enhance the pedagogical methods,” says Mr. Praveen Prakash, explaining that 4,000 school complexes had been mapped with 394 Engineering colleges across the State to extend training support. The students of Engineering colleges would train the students and teachers of these schools in use of technology in a classroom as part of their internship, he added.
