Amaravati: YSRCP workers and leaders on Tuesday staged protests across Andhra Pradesh, demanding the resignation of state Education Minister Nara Lokesh and a CBI inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the DSC-2025 teacher recruitment process.
The protests, organised by the opposition party's youth and student wings, were held at district and constituency headquarters across the state.
According to YSRCP, the recruitment exercise conducted under the banner of "Mega DSC" was marred by irregularities.
"The Mega DSC recruitment was heavily publicised, but it was marred by irregularities. The Education Minister should accept moral responsibility and resign. The Centre should order a CBI inquiry into the recruitment process."
In a press release, the party alleged that student enrolment in government schools has declined by more than 5.5 lakh over the past two years and dismissed the government's claim that 1.1 lakh students had migrated from private to public schools as "misleading".
It further claimed that essential textbooks are yet to reach several schools despite the academic year commencing over a month ago and Vidya Kanuka programme has not been implemented this year.
The YSRCP also alleged that over 22.6 lakh beneficiaries have been excluded from the Talliki Vandanam', which offers Rs 15,000 per annum per school-going child. They also sought the implementation of full fee reimbursement, restoration of the Vasathi Deevena scheme and payment of the promised Rs 3,000 monthly unemployment allowance to eligible youth.
The YSRCP leaders said the protests were aimed at safeguarding public education, government schools and the interests of students while urging the government to address the concerns raised by the opposition.
Meanwhile, YSRCP leader R K Roja accused the TDP-led government of "ignoring" the repeated demands for a CBI probe despite protests by unemployed DSC aspirants.
Roja contrasted the current dispensation with the previous YSRCP government, which recruited 1.3 lakh people into permanent government jobs transparently and on merit. She alleged that the present government failed to even complete 16,000 appointments fairly.
"Fresh instances of irregularities are emerging every day, including in the sports quota, and several affected candidates have already approached the courts," Roja alleged.
She said YSRCP president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had repeatedly questioned the government over the alleged irregularities during the past two months, but Lokesh had "failed" to respond.
Referring to the resignation of Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the NEET controversy, Roja said Lokesh should also accept moral responsibility, resign and face a CBI probe into DSC-2025.
Echoing her concerns, former minister K Govardhan Reddy alleged the much-publicised "Mega DSC" had turned into "Daga DSC", accusing the government of "cheating" unemployed youth through multiple government orders and irregularities in recruitment.
He further alleged that while moral responsibility had been accepted at the Centre, the Andhra Pradesh government had failed to answer questions raised over the alleged DSC-2025 recruitment irregularities.
This report was published from a wire feed. Apart from the headline, the EdexLive Desk has not edited the copy.