Special Chief Secretary (School Education) B. Rajasekhar has said that the World Bank (WB) has extended an unconditional loan of $250 million to the Supporting Andhra’s Learning Transformation (SALT) project in appreciation of the path-breaking reforms implemented by the State government.
Addressing the media at the Secretariat, Mr. Rajasekhar said that the reforms initiated under the SALT project had brought about a paradigm shift in the way education was imparted and that the outcomes had been encouraging. Besides, the facilities in schools were vastly improved under the Nadu-Nedu programme to provide an atmosphere that was conducive for teaching and learning.
The SALT is the first project in the school education sector to be funded by the World Bank without any precondition.
Mr. Rajasekhar dismissed the media reports that the World Bank had imposed certain curbs to extend the financial assistance, as baseless.
He said a sum of approximately ₹53,000 crore had been spent on school education in the last three years and a major chunk of it (₹22,617 crore) had gone to Amma Vodi and the first phase of the Nadu-Nedu scheme.
The number of children studying in government schools in 2022-23 academic year was 40,31,239. The total number of children in government, private and aided schools was less by 86,119 when compared to last year.
The reduction was partly due to migrations to other States and dropouts, and the number of children who joined 1st class declined by 29,102 due to the population growth rate tapering off. An enrollment drive has since been undertaken.
“Lack of facilities or the adoption of English medium in government schools is not at all the reason for the number of children going down,” said Mr. Rajasekhar.
Joint Director of School Education M. Ramalingam and Director of Examinations D. Devendra Reddy were present on the occasion.
