Minister for Education Nara Lokesh on Thursday directed officials to focus on student attendance and learning outcomes in government schools during the current academic year.

At a review meeting on school education, officials informed him that 1,06,000 students had newly enrolled in government schools this year after shifting from private schools and that out of the 7,620 Upper Primary Schools in the State, 3,515 schools (46.13%) had admitted students up to their maximum capacity. The officials attributed the increase in admissions to the reforms undertaken in the education sector.

Referring to the issue of high fees charged by private schools, the Minister instructed the officials to study the mechanisms adopted by other States to regulate excessive private school fees.

The officials said beginning September 5 this year, under Phase I, an AI Tutor system will be introduced as a pre-pilot project for mathematics and science subjects for Class 9 and 10 students in 175 LEAP schools.

The Minister suggested that the AI Tutor be integrated with classroom clickers also in future.

The meeting also discussed the regularisation of IERPS and the recruitment of guest lecturers for High School Plus institutions.

The meeting was attended by Principal Secretary (In-charge), Department of Education, Shyamala Rao, Director of School Education Thameem Ansariya, Managing Director of the Educational Infrastructure Corporation Deeven Reddy and others.

Transparency

In a separate review meeting with the officials of the Department of Higher Education and Skill Development, Mr. Lokesh directed them to ensure that the recruitment of 1,523 faculty positions (Professors, Associate Professors, and Assistant Professors) across State universities is conducted with the highest standards of transparency, quality and fairness.

The officials informed him that 1,89,316 applications had been received so far.

The Minister instructed them to undertake data-driven cross-verification of every application, issue clear recruitment guidelines to university selection committees, and complete the recruitment process at the earliest.

He said for the proposed framework for establishing Skill Universities, strong industry linkages and sector-specific partnerships should be established and the legislation should serve as a national model for future skill universities.

Mr. Lokesh also said that the Naipunyam (Skill) portal should be launched in July to benefit unemployed youth and that every registered individual would receive an online Skill Card.