Edn budget generates heat in House as Cong, Oppn MLAs trade charges

Hyderabad: The Treasury and Opposition members indulged in heated debate in the Assembly over the education budget on Tuesday.

Attacking the government, former Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy questioned the Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy’s ‘unfulfilled promises’, while participating in a debate on the State budget in the Assembly. In defence, Ministers D Sridhar Babu, Jupally Krishna Rao and Seethakka recalled the State of Affairs of Government schools under the BRS government.

Citing the latest Socio-Economic Survey, the Maheshwaram MLA said that in contrast to the claims of the government, the enrollment of students in private schools has gone up from 31 lakh to 36 lakh, while that of government schools came down steadily from 23 lakh to 19 lakh. She also challenged the assertions about the teachers’ recruitment across the State and questioned as to why less than half of vacancies were filled. While pointing out that there were 25,000 vacancies, she wondered as to why the government issued notification for only 11,000 teacher positions. Sabitha Indra Reddy recalled how Revanth Reddy promised to resolve various issues related to education.

Countering the arguments made by the BRS MLA, Minister Seethakka said that the ‘breakfast scheme’ under KCR regime never took off. She recalled how the scheme was launched just days prior to Assembly polls notification. She further spoke of how KCR’s grandson commented about the Government school in Gowlidoddi, as Sabitha Indra Reddy was taking him to a private school near Gachibowli in 2023. The Minister recalled the way Himanshu reacted over the condition of the government school by ‘covering his nose’. Seethakka held that the BRS regime which claims to have increased the number of government schools had actually failed to provide even basic amenities to the existing ones.

The BRS MLA citing the Congress allegations over the development of Gajwel, Sircilla and Siddipet stated that Revanth Reddy took up recruitment of Vidya Volunteers in his constituency, but ignored in the rest of the State. Countering it, Minister Sridhar Babu held that education and health remain the government’s top priorities. The government has already reopened 79 schools which were shut under the BRS regime, and that rebuilding the system would take time, he said.