The Government of Andhra Pradesh's plan to affiliate 45,000-odd government schools to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is surely an ambitious one. Thus, Education Minister Adimulapu Suresh said that if the schools in AP are unable to match the standards and the very long list of requirements, they will seek affiliation for om the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE).

There are certain standards that CBSE expects its schools to adhere to, highlighted the Education Minister in a report by The Hindu. These standards include good infrastructure of the schools, efficient teachers and specified teacher-student ratio. There is a documentation process of affiliation, requiring the submission of documents with regards to several aspects of the school, and the state government is circumspect of the challenges.

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Adimulapu Suresh will be meeting Minister of Education, Government of India, Dharmendra Pradhan next week. And he will make an attempt to explain to the central minister about the set-up when it comes to pre-primary education including the foundation schools of the state, making English the medium of instruction and offering teachers bridge courses. “The Chief Minister is determined to ensure that our students write CBSE exams in the academic year 2023-24,” he said.

The state minister claimed that the educational reforms are taking shape including those pertaining to introducing bi-lingual textbooks, setting up a separate university for training the teachers alone and converting District Institutes for Education and Training (DIETs) into teacher training institutes. In the next academic year, the state government hopes to provide sports uniforms and shoes as well. “The Chief Minister is eager to put in place a reformed education system to suit the needs of students who come from the sections that are below poverty line,” he said.