Principal Secretary, School Education, Praveen Prakash has expressed displeasure over “gaps in the implementation of Jagananna Vidya Kanuka” at some places.
Referring to a few schools in the Tenali municipality of Guntur district, where he visited on Saturday and found these gaps, Mr. Praveen Prakash directed the District Education Officers and Mandal Education Officers across the State to effectively monitor implementation of the scheme and ensure that every child gets the school kits.
To fix accountability, he said he would make random phone calls to around 50 parents across the State to check if their children had received all the items under Vidya Kanuka. “If there are cases of students not receiving the kit or any of the items in the kit, the District and Mandal Education Officers will have to furnish an explanation for the same by July 5,” he warned.
He, however, expressed happiness over the fact that the kits had reached most schools. Citing the case of Nizampatnam in Bapatla district, he said the children from fishermen community were happy to receive all that they needed to excel in their academics in time.
Coffee with Education Assistant
The Principal Secretary has also suggested that the services of Education Assistants appointed in Village and Ward Secretariats be integrated into the Education department to achieve the goal of 100% Gross Enrolment Ratio in schools. Stating that 10,000 young persons were appointed to the post, he said the Education Department had not yet completely integrated them into its fold.
He suggested that to break the ice and to develop a rapport with them, the Mandal Education Officers (MEOs) start a new programme ‘Coffee with the Education Assistant’, a one-on-one meeting with them to help them understand the vision of the government with regard to the overhaul of the education system in the State through schemes like Jagananna Vidya Kanuka, Vidya Deevena, Vasathi Deevena, Gorumudda and 100% gross enrolment ratio in schools. “Every MEO should have at least two-three such sessions in a week. DEOs should also hold mandal-wise meetings with the Education Assistants who have a network with volunteers and through these volunteers, we can reach out to the parents of students,” he said.
He said Collectors should facilitate and monitor the proposed initiative.
