Sticking to his promise of bringing in sweeping reforms in education, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s government on Monday constituted a 12-member committee to bring an overhaul in both school and higher education. The primary objective of the committee is to make recommendations regarding regulating the fee in both private and public educational institutions. According to the government, this committee would conduct a comprehensive study on the current status of education in the state and recommend changes to improve its standards.
The 12-member committee includes-- Prof N Balakrishnan from Indian Institute of Science--chairman of the committee; Prof Desai, IIT, Hyderabad Director; Prof Jandhyala BG Tilak former VC of National Institute of Education Planning and others.
The committee has been tasked with 15 terms of reference which includes making recommendations on welfare of teachers, make the education system more inclusive and equitable, integration of all the education departments etc. One of the key objectives the committee has been tasked with is; provide a list of “Quick Impact Projects” which would make visible changes in the quality of education for the academic year of 2019-2020. This report has to be submitted within six weeks of the committee’s establishment.
The Committee will have to submit its report within four months of the first meeting which would be convened by the Principal Secretary of the Government.
Jagan Mohan Reddy while in the Opposition during his padayatra--which helped in becoming the Chief Minister overthrowing Chandrababu Naidu--had promised of a crackdown against private schools and colleges which were charging exorbitant fees and pushing the parents into mounting debts.
He had also assured that the public education system would be brought back to its past glory and the education standards would be improved in the state. Further, he made promises of free education to all eligible students pursuing higher education.
In MHRD’s National Institutional Ranking Framework overall Top 100--2019, Andhra University is ranked 29, Sri Venkateswara University is ranked 72 and Koneru Lakshmaiah Educational Foundation University is ranked 74.