Approximately 1,000 schools that have been renovated across Telangana under the Mana Ooru Badi initiative have been inaugurated on Monday, says State Education Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy. The date of inauguration, June 19, coincided with Education Day as part of the decennial Telangana celebrations.

The New Indian Express reported that the minister, who was speaking at the inauguration ceremony at Jillellaguda Zilla Parishad school in Meerpet, said that government schools will soon conduct digital classes as well. She also pointed to the notable increase in budgetary allocations for the education sector since when the state has been formed. 

"We are allocating Rs 190 crore for free textbooks, Rs 35 crore for ragi malt and Rs 56 crore for free notebooks to students," she added.

The minister also said that the Education Department would distribute 20,000 tabs worth Rs 34.25 crore to teachers in government schools. The renovation of 9,123 schools under the Mana Ooru Mana Badi programme, which cost an estimated Rs 3,497.62 crore, was taken up in the first phase of the programme. On June 19, she said, 1,000 renovated schools were inaugurated across the state.

Later in the day, the minister participated in a function held in Hyderabad alongside State Legislative Council Chairman Gutha Sukhender Reddy, Home Minister Mohammed Mahmood Ali and Animal Husbandry Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav.