Education Minister Botsa Satyanarayana refuted the allegations of the Opposition and a section of media on closure of 8000 government schools. He further clarified that not a single school was closed and stated that opposition leaders are misleading people with baseless allegations.

The Minister said that currently 42750 schools are functioning in the State, adding that only a few changes are being made right from anganwadis to all educational institutions, as the government is setting up foundation schools according to the new education policy.

He said that the government is striving to provide quality education along with better opportunities to the students and thus rolled out many reforms to increase the educational standard from Class-I. He stated that opposition leaders are behind the malicious propaganda against the government as they are unable to digest the revolutionary reforms.

The Minister demanded the opposition leaders prove where the schools were closed. He said out of 42750 schools, 5250 schools have been mapped and only 296 schools are located at a distance exceeding one kilometre and stated that changes will be made if any student faces inconvenience.

He said that the government is adamant on providing English medium education, as they can gain better opportunities and withstand the competitive world.

Further, he said that the State government is prioritizing the education sector by implementing schemes like Vidya Devena, Vidya Kanuka, Vasati Devena, Amma Vodi, while the previous government had never cared about students or their education.

He said that Chandrababu Naidu has no moral right to speak on Vidya Kanuka or Goru Muddha, as he couldn’t think of giving such kits at free of cost and even failed to provide proper food to the students in midday meals during his tenure.