VIJAYAWADA: Asserting that the government’s intention to take over aided schools from the willing managements is for the good of the institutions, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday said they wanted to carry forward the spirit of aided institutions. Lamenting that the issue has been politicised, he said the government’s intention “is to do good and help the school managements, teachers and students. The schools are free to either accept or reject the government offer,” he noted. Brushing aside the ‘false propaganda’ on the issue, he said the State’s intent was only to safeguard and uplift those institutions that were lacking in proper infrastructure facilities and staff.
“We have placed various options before the aided institutions, and extended a helping hand as many teachers have been demanding a merger with the government for a long time. We only wanted to take those institutions which are totally neglected, and to renovate them under Nadu Nedu. Those unable to address their issues have been asked to surrender their teachers to the government,” he said at a meeting with officials. All options given to aided schools would benefit the managements, and there was no reason to make the merger proposal an issue, he said.
Earlier, wealthy people donated land on which the aided schools and colleges were built, he said. “For the past two-and-a-half decades, the governments had not been filling the vacant teachers posts as part of policy decisions and the staff pool started shrinking. It resulted in the managements appointing teachers on their own and running the institutions, which are under financial duress. These are some of the reasons why the institutions have become almost defunct, and the managements are unable to reappoint teachers as it would require money,” the CM observed.
Moreover, the teachers had also been demanding that they be taken over by the government, he reiterated. Under these circumstances, the government came forward with concrete proposals to safeguard the spirit of the aided institutions and gave them some options. The government would revive the schools handed over to it and appoint the required number of teachers under Nadu Nedu, Jagan said, adding the donors’ names would be retained. On the teachers’ demand, the managements could hand them over to the government and run them as private institutions, Jagan added. If the managements who earlier agreed for the takeover wish to withdraw their proposal, they can do so,” the CM said.