Andhra University Alumni Association will offer Rs 50 crore out of Rs 100 crore corpus fund for the development of Andhra University (AU) in Visakhapatnam. Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy announced on December 13 that the State government will provide the rest of the Rs 50 crore. Reddy initially told the AAA to raise half the funds after which he would sanction the remaining within no time. He had promised the creation of the fund after AAA founder chairperson Grandhi Mallikarjuna Rao requested for it.
The Chief Minister was addressing the Andhra University Alumni Association (AAA) Waves 2019. Hundreds of old students from the university and its affiliated colleges attended the alumni meet. Earlier, the Chief Minister was given a rousing welcome with ‘Thank You’ placards held by the students for his recent announcements such as English medium education in government schools and establishment of skill development centres in the state.
Addressing the students, the Chief Minister said: “In the next four years, our children from the government schools will be writing their SSC examinations in English. With the first priority for school-level education under Nadu-Nedu programme, the next development will be in the realm of higher education, where every course learnt by students will be to get employment.”
According to Jagan, there are about 77 per cent children in India who have dropped out of school. The government has plans to revamp the education system, he said.
“Andhra University is the pride of Andhra Pradesh with Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Kattamanchi Ramalinga Reddy having served as its Vice-Chancellors. Standing 14th among top universities in India is something laudable, but this university has the potential to be among the top five universities for which a lot of changes should be made in the education system,” the Chief Minister said. He expressed concern over the 459 vacancies not being filled in the university.
Jagan asked the students to give one year of their education life for learning an employment development course. “Degree courses can be expanded from three to four years — the last year can be for apprenticeships. Similarly, engineering course too can be enlarged up to five years where the students can take either BCom (Hons) or BTech (Hons). The government will soon revamp the education system; every home will have a child going for higher studies,” he said.
On the occasion, the Chief Minister asked the AU alumni to come up with suggestions on the revamp of the education system.
Tech Mahindra Chief Executive Officer CP Gurnani's, who presided over the occasion, request for an Artificial Intelligence (AI) lab in Engineering College was received positively. “When I was in Vizag, I felt like I was visiting a grand old university, but the level of excitement totally changed my thoughts,” Gurnani said. During his visit to the AU, he interacted with the old students of the Engineering College.
AU Vice-Chancellor PVGD Prasada Reddy, in his address, said it was because the government’s initiative that the university has increased engineering seats. In the past six months, various development works were sanctioned in the campus, including MoUs and establishment of skill development centres.
