From launching the Chief Minister’s Breakfast Scheme, revamping schools under ‘Mana Ooru-Mana Badi’, and enhancing enrollment, to launching free notebooks and workbooks in the government and local body schools, Telangana has made a paradigm shift in the school education sector in the last one decade.
The free breakfast scheme recently launched in government schools has been a boon for students of classes 1 to 10. While quality free education has already been extended to students, they are now being provided free breakfast, mid-day meals and evening snacks in the case of special classes.
With a focus on the nutrition of the students, apart from three eggs per week, they are also provided nutritious Ragi Java in the evening. Free education in government schools includes free uniforms, textbooks and meals too. But the Telangana government taking a step forward has launched free notebooks and workbooks as well.
A special focus has been laid on revamping the government schools and ‘Mana Ooru-Mana Badi’ programme was launched. Under the initiative, the schools were given a facelift under 12 components including toilets with running water facility, electrification, drinking water supply, furniture, painting of entire schools, green chalkboard, compound walls, kitchen sheds, new classrooms in place of dilapidated ones, and dining halls in high schools.
In the first phase of the programme, works were undertaken in 9,123 schools at an estimated cost of Rs 3,497.62 crore. Of these schools, works in 95 per cent of schools have already been grounded. Along with improving infrastructure, emphasis was laid on the learning outcomes of students.
The academic performance that took a beating due to the Covid-19 pandemic is now the track, thanks to the foundational literacy and numeracy programme for Classes 1 to 5 and the Learning Improvement Programme for Classes 6 to 9.
The State schools have taken initiatives to prepare students in life skills through ‘Chelimi’ and they are taught how to face life challenges, and handle pressure, stress and failure. Further, to instil an entrepreneurship mindset and bring out innovative business ideas, ‘Ankuram’, a business innovator programme, was launched in the government-run schools.
