Leaders of the Andhra Pradesh United Teachers’ Federation (APUTF) have raised serious concern over the implementation of ‘Supporting Andhra’s Learning Transformation’ (SALT), a World-Bank assisted initiative in the education sector, The Hindu reported.

In a statement, the federation State president N Venkateswarlu and general secretary KSS Prasad said that the government had signed an agreement with the World Bank for a loan of Rs 1,875 crore to bring changes in the education sector. “There are already serious concerns over the merger of Classes 3 to 5 of primary schools in high schools and now implementation of other new policies will only debilitate the education sector,” the APUTF statement said. 

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As part of SALT, the government is implementing Nadu-Nedu, sprucing up the infrastructure facilities in schools across the state. “Good infrastructure is important, but adequate teaching staff is key to achieving quality education,” the statement added, pointing to the fact that there was no mention of recruitment of teaching staff in the SALT project. They said online education cannot be a substitute for a physical classroom where a teacher can directly interact with their students. The APUTF said that the new initiatives being brought in by the government in the name of the National Education Policy 2020 were against the spirit of the Right to Education Act.