75% attendance must to avail Amma Vodi

Srikakulam: Ridiculing the Opposition criticism over his reforms in the education sector, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has said that his government spent over Rs 52,600 crore in the last three years on various welfare schemes and developmental activities which no other government had done so far.

Jagan Mohan Reddy defended the benefit cut to mothers whose children did not score 75 per cent attendance as it was the main criteria for sanctioning the benefit. "Children and parents should realize that attendance to the school is a must for paving a better future for the children and those abstaining from the school should realise it," he said.

The Chief Minister said the relaxation given to children in the first two years could not be extended keeping in view the larger good of the families.

Releasing Jagananna Amma Vodi for the third consecutive year, directly crediting Rs 6,595 crore into the accounts of 43.96 lakh mothers, the Chief Minister said in Srikakulam on Monday that the government had spent about Rs 19,618 crore on Amma Vodi for the last three years. The very purpose of incentivizing the mothers for sending their children to school should not be defeated, he said.

The Chief Minister said that the Government is crediting Rs 13,000 to each of the beneficiary's account and the remaining Rs 2,000 will be credited to the TMF (Toilet Maintenance Fund) and SMF (School Maintenance Fund), which would be used for the maintenance of toilets and repair works in Government schools.

He slammed the opposition parties for criticism of the benefit cut and questioned whether any party had ever provided financial aid to mothers for sending their children to school.

Many revolutionary changes were brought in the education sector to impart quality education to students preparing them to face the competitive world.

The Government made a pact with Byju's, an ed-tech company to guide the students with CBSE content free of cost while those studying in private schools had to pay Rs 24,000 per year.

Also, he said that the government was providing free tabs worth Rs 12,000 each to 4.7 lakh Class VIII students every year at a cost of Rs 500 crore to prepare them for writing Class X exam in CBSE syllabus in the academic year 2025. Besides these, he announced that televisions or digital boards would be set up in every classroom to teach digital content.

Tearing into opposition and a section of the media for waging a 'war' against him in an unethical way, the Chief Minister said that he was fighting with the 'Gang of Four'. He said that no one could harm him as long as the people were on his side. He cautioned the public to be wary of such elements and not fall for the malicious propaganda.

During his visit, the Chief Minister also announced the sanction of funds for several development projects in the Srikakulam district.

Speaker Tammineni Sitaram, Ministers Dharmana Prasada Rao, Botsa Satyanarayana, Seediri Appalaraju, MLC Duvvada Srinivas, MLAs Reddy Shanthi and Dharmana Krishnadas, and other officials and senior leaders were present at the event.