Hyderabad: Government keen on better learning outcomes

Hyderabad: Armed with Rs 2,000-crore allocation for this academic year, the department of school education is putting in place a comprehensive action plan to transform school education in the State.

As part of revamping the education system, the department is also focussing on optimum utilisation of infrastructure as well as human resources. The objective is better learning experience and outcomes in the government schools.

According to officials, there are a total of 12,654 government high schools in the State, of which 7,986 government schools have class VI to VIII and 4,668 schools Class IX and X. The government is mulling over ways to ensure required teacher-students ratio by distributing resources optimally.

In addition, the schools with better infrastructure would share their resources by accommodating students from the schools with a few number of students right from the mandal level.

For instance, if a school has a teacher who can teach competitive exams or other subjects, it can lend such teachers to the schools where such expertise is lacking. They would be asked to take classes at other schools once or twice a week. Similarly, if schools are in proximity, the students could utilise the infrastructure at other government schools such as playgrounds, school libraries, etc.

In its bid to improve the infrastructure and education standards, the school education department is studying best practices in government schools across the country. A team of officials has recently gone to Andhra Pradesh to learn about the new changes being implemented there. "Currently, all options are on the table.

But, the main focus is to choose the best model suitable for TS and could be implemented as per the directions of the State government for the improvement of infrastructure and education standards in Telangana," said a senior official.

Responding on the issue, Chava Ravi, general secretary, Telangana State Union Teachers Federation (TSTUF), said, "The education department is now studying various models and will decide how to implement them to strengthen the government schools with a focus on sharing of human resources and infrastructure among the schools."