The total number of students enrolled as on Monday for this academic year in the State are 37.59 lakh as against 45.71 lakh students in the last academic year and why there is a drop of almost eight lakh students, asked TDP leader and MLC, Paruchuri Ashok Babu, on Monday.
Talking to media persons, Ashok Babu demanded Chief Minister, Jagan Mohan Reddy, and his Cabinet colleagues to clarify as to why the dropout rate has gone so high in just one academic year. If at all, the claim of the Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues that the education system is really strengthened why the dropout rate has gone up instead of increase in enrolment, Ashok Babu asked.
The English medium forcibly imposed on the students and the national education policies are the primary reasons for the dropout rate increasing so high, the TDP MLC felt. Students who have completed third standard in the schools which are close to their residences are forced to move to distant areas from the fourth standard and this is the reason for the heavy increase in the dropout rate, Ashok Babu opined.
Parents who are not willing to send their children to faraway places are joining them in private educational institutions which are close-by, he said and added that both the students and the teachers are forced to take up English medium which is imposed on them. How Jagan, who has made a fuss on the introduction of English medium only in municipal schools during the TDP regime, has forcibly introduced English medium in all the schools and what will he achieve with this, he questioned.
What did Jagan achieve by wasting hundreds of crores of public money for BYJU’s content and tabs, Ashok Babu asked and demanded the Chief Minister’s response why English medium if forced on the students. There are no basic facilities in many hostels and even the scholarships are not being sanctioned regularly, he said.
When all the nations are continuing education in their respective mother tongue Jagan is forcing English on the students here, Askho Babu expressed surprise. While taking any major decisions with regard to the education system, intellectuals and academic experts should be consulted for their suggestions, Ashok Babu felt.
