Fee reimbursement assured for all the eligible, call 1902 for any difficulty: YS Jagan

TIRUVURU: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday released Rs. 698.68 crore under Jagananna Vidya Deevena towards the total fee reimbursement of 9.86 lakh students pursuing ITI, Polytechnic, Degree, Engineering, Medicine, and other professional courses for the quarter October to December 2022. The amount would be directly deposited into the bank accounts of the students’ mothers.

Addressing a large crowd of students and parents after releasing the funds with the click of a button here on Sunday, the Chief Minister stated that the fate of the poor can only be changed for the better through education, and the Vidya Deevena was established with the sole purpose of providing higher education to poor students.

Assuring that the government was ready to reimburse professional students' fees regardless of the number of students in each household or the fee amount, he stated that education only leads to a better future for all. According to him, the government has already transferred Rs. 13,311 crore under the Jagananna Vidya Deevena and Vasathi Deevena, with Rs. 9947 crore spent on Vidya Deevena alone benefitting 27 lakh students.

“Today should be better than yesterday, tomorrow should be better than today and one should have the best future than a better tomorrow,” he said, adding that best future was possible only with good education which provides good livelihood and good life journey.

Observing that the face of classrooms in schools is rapidly changing due to digitization, he committed to bring the state's government schools up to par with business institutions. "Just give me two years, I will remove the impression that government schools can't compete with corporate schools. Instead, the faces of government schools will be completely changed in order to force corporate schools to compete with the former," he stated.

Citing the instance of IAS officer S. Dilli Rao who hails from a poor family in Srikakulam district becoming the District Collector, the Chief Minister said each and every student should strive to rise to eminent position in life.

Reiterating his firm belief that money spent on education is an investment in students' futures, he issued a clarion call to students to work hard and aspire to become Satya Nadellas while leaving the tuition burden to the government, which would assist them in pursuing the greatest academic courses.

He asked students and parents to call 1902 if they had any problems with colleges, so that the CMO could intervene and speak with the colleges immediately.

Several students committed suicide during the TDP rule, while others dropped out because the government failed to clear the fee reimbursement dues, he said, adding that the current government cleared the TDP rule's arrears of Rs. 1,777 crores to colleges and has been implementing the scheme with heart and soul. As a result, the number of professional students and campus recruitments increased to 1,20,000 and 85,000, respectively, from 87,419 and 37,000 during TDP administration.

The Chief Minister slammed the TDP's administration, saying he has been fighting a fierce battle with the unethical gang of four that pursued the policies of pillage, stash, and devour, as well as its foster son who backed it.

Reiterating his challenge to the opposition parties to contest all 175 alone, he questioned them as to why they are trying to forge alliances if they strongly believed that the present Government has done no good to the people. Why the wolves are coming together, he asked.

The gang of four has neither family ethics nor political values, he remarked, asking the people to support the YSRCP in the next elections seeing the difference between the present and TDP rules.

Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bible and Quran teach us that only the good would win over the evil, he said and asked the people not to be misled by the evil designs of the opposition parties.

“You are my confidence and you will only take me forward. If at all I need dependence, I will depend on God only,” he said.

In response to Tiruvuru Legislator K. Rakshana Nidhi's requests, the Chief Minister sanctioned Rs. 26 crore for the construction of a bridge across the Kattaleru stream and Rs.50 crore for delivering Krishna surface water to A. Konduru Mandalam in order to reduce the recurrence of kidney illnesses.