Cut in allocation an indication of march towards privatisation of education sector in the days to come, they allege
Leaders of the Andhra Pradesh United Teachers’ Federation (UTF) on Thursday said “inadequate budget allocation indicates privatisation of the education sector in the days to come”.
In a statement, the federation’s State president N. Venkateswarlu and general secretary K.S.S. Prasad said development of the education sector would not be possible with allocation of only 10.6 % of the funds in the State budget announced for 2023-24, which is 0.2 % less than last year’s allocation.
They said while the government claimed an increase in number of students enrolling in the State-run schools as a result of the welfare schemes introduced in the Government schools, the budget allocated for implementation of the Jagananna Amma Vodi scheme remained the same as last year at ₹6,500 crore.
Similarly, though claims had been made that thousands of additional classrooms would be built under the school infrastructure programme Nadu-Nedu, funds to the tune of ₹3,500 crore had been allotted for the programme, as was done last year.
They said despite several complaints that the pair of shoes and bags provided in the school kit distributed to students under Jagananna Vidya Kanuka were of low quality, no additional funds were allocated to improve the quality.
For higher education sector, the funds were reduced from 7.8% to 7.3% this year, they said, adding that it only indicated a march towards privatisation.
They demanded that the Government implement the Kothari Commission recommendations and allocate 30% of the budget to the education sector and government shoulder the responsibility of the entire sector.
