Veeravaram, East Godavari District: Today, my padayatra traversed through three different constituencies—Veeravaram and Rajupalem in Jaggampet constituency; Chandramampalli and Divili in Peddapuram constituency and Virava in Pithapuram constituency. When I hear Pithapuram, I am reminded of the King of this place who had donated thousands of acres of land for the development of educational institutions. Poet Somasundar who wrote Vajrayudam hails to this place.

At Chandrampalli, I met students who told me that they were yet to get books and uniforms. The negligence of the government was pointed out by the students who said that books were not available in market yet.

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The story is the same with teachers also. “Sir, till date we haven’t received the books. How do we teach children? It is already the time for summative 1 exams. How can we conduct exams without completing the syllabus? The education system is in complete chaos,” said the teachers. It is very unfortunate that books that had to be distributed in April have not reached the children even now. The reason is because the issue of commission between private printers and leaders is yet to be sorted out. This careless government has put the future of children at stake. Education in government schools is invalidated while proxy educational institutions of the leaders are being promoted.

It is unfair on the part of government to promote corporate educational institutions. This government is killing the opportunities of small private schools, which have been set up with well educated individuals. Representatives of Kirlampudi Private School Owners Association met me at the camp this afternoon and poured out their woes. They said that the earlier government had allowed them to operate Pre-Primary classes free of cost, while the present government was demanding Rs 1.5 lakhs for starting Pre-Primary classes in an existing private school.

The association members said that the Pre-Primary classes were established with an intention to provide education to poor children at lower cost and also to provide employment to educated individuals. But with the government demanding huge amounts and imposing stringent rules, it was difficult to operate, they said. The government was functioning with an intention to kill the small schools and promote its leaders’ proxy corporate educational institutions.

I have a question for the chief minister – We are already in the middle of the academic year, the children are yet to receive books and uniform. The government has diluted the mid-day meal scheme. The government has also not filled up teachers’ posts lying vacant. Moreover, the government is forcing students and teachers to participate in different government programmes. Social welfare hostels and schools have been closed. Administration of existing schools have been ignored, how can we expect government schools to progress? Does this mean the poor have to give up on education?