Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana on October 20 said the purpose of implementing the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum in all the 45,000 government-run schools across Andhra Pradesh was to provide students of all sections equal access to education of international standards.
Addressing the media at the Samagra Shiksha office, Mr. Satyanarayana said that the State would spend only ₹149 crore to bring IB within the reach of the students in a span of five years.
Unlike in other States, where the IB syllabus was implemented in only select schools, Andhra Pradesh schools would first set up IB labs before collectively implementing the curriculum, he said, informing that an organisation had come forward to train the students free of cost.
The Minister claimed that every rupee spent by the government on education would turn into a boon for the students from the economically backward sections.
“The objective is to equip the students in government schools with the wherewithal to compete with their counterparts in the corporate educational institutions,” he said.
Mr. Satyanarayana said the education system in the State was up for a major overhaul with the government determined to scale up facilities and give students a perfect platform to shine in their academic and future careers.
Path-breaking initiatives
Introduction of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) from Class 3, distribution of Tabs pre-loaded with Byju’s content to students of Class 8, and installation of smart TVs and Interactive Flat Panels (IFPs) in classrooms were all path-breaking decisions that would help the government achieve its goal, he said.
Asserting that maintenance of complete transparency had always been the government’s top priority, Mr. Satyanarayana slammed “certain forces trying to malign the government by hurling baseless allegations at it.”
Principal Secretary, School Education, Praveen Prakash, Commissioner S. Suresh Kumar, Samagra Shiksha State Project Director B. Srinivasa Rao, Assistant State Project Director K.V. Srinivasulu Reddy, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas’ Secretary D. Madhusudhan Rao, and Director of Government Textbooks Department Ravindranath Reddy were present.
