Mana Ooru-Mana Badi to herald new environs for school education in Telangana

HYDERABAD: Telangana Education Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy will be launching the first phase Mana Ooru-ManaBadi program under which over 1,200 schools in the State are completely refurbished with a view to accelarting the process of education and also conducive conditions for studies under upgraded environments to benefit students.

The State Government has conceived the idea of ‘mana ooru - mana badi’ to fortify the basic education in every village in the State. The government has taken up the ambitious project for a comprehensive development of school infrastructure covering all schools run by the government and also local bodies.

The government intends to achieve a better rate of enrolment, attendance and retention of students along with imparting quality education by providing additional classrooms, effecting repairs, necessary furniture, toilets and other facilities including digital classrooms.

The programme was divided into phases spanning over three years with a view to renovate a total of 26,072 schools in the state at an estimated cost of Rs.7,259.84 crores. The first phase was set to cover 9,172 schools with works in 7,512 schools now.

The programme covers 12 components, including toilets with running water facility, electrification, drinking water supply, furniture to students and staff, painting of entire school, major and minor repairs, green chalk boards, compound walls, kitchen sheds, new classrooms in place of dilapidated rooms, dining halls in high schools and implementation of digital education.

An end-to-end software was created and deployed by the IT department to monitor the pace and quality of works undertaken. Furniture was procured through a centralized procurement plan. To involve participation of citizens, the government reached out to citizens. Those interested could make donations to the programme or take up the works sanctioned in their personal capacity.

Noted industrialist Subash Reddy constructed a school in Bibipet mandal under this scheme. Drawing inspiration from him, IT minister K T Rama Rao has also taken up a school for renovation in his paternal grandmother’s village Konapur. Several other noted industries have taken up works under CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) and some in their individual capacity.

With works in 1,200 schools complete, the students and staff will be restarting their journey in a new, clean environment that is now suitable for learning and in an ambiance on a par with corporate schools.