Coming down heavily on YSRCP Government for deciding to merge Government schools in the state, TDP spokesperson K Pattabhi Ram on Thursday said that the Jaganmohan Reddy Government has unethically resorted to merger of schools aiming to receive a USD 250 million loan from the World bank.

Referring to the on-going agitation of school students and their parents in the state opposing the merger move, the TDP leader said that the Government has planned the merger of schools with an ulterior motive not to fill the existing more than 50,000 teacher vacancies in various schools in the state. The government’s move will also result in closure of 8000 schools and overcrowding of classrooms in the state.

Addressing a press conference at TDP Bhavan at Mangalagiri, Pattabhiram said the basic condition of the World Bank to sanction the loan is that the recruitment of teachers at the secondary and higher secondary level should be restricted to the minimum.

Castigating the Government for planning to destroy the educational system in the state in the name of educational reforms, he said the Jagan Government has decided to merge the schools to avoid recruitment of new teachers in various schools.

Disclosing that 39,008 and 11, 888 teacher posts are vacant in various elementary and higher secondary schools respectively, Pattabhiram said that the government wanted to avoid the filling of posts to meet the World Bank condition to avail the loan.

He also referred to a detailed report of Samagra Siksha Abhhiyan project approval board saying that the Centre asked AP Government to remove the imbalances in the pupil-teacher ratio in elementary, secondary and higher secondary schools in the state as soon as possible.

Acting contrary to the suggestion of the Centre to recruit a necessary number of teachers to run the educational system efficiently in the state, the state Government has decided to merge the schools causing a lot of suffering to the students and their parents.