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Early this year, a two-day Global Investment Summit in Andhra Pradesh saw Indian and foreign companies signing 352 MoUs worth Rs 13.05 trillion with the potential to create over 600,000 jobs. Last year, the state was ranked number one in the NITI Aayog’s Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) rankings. To capitalise on its aggressive pro-industry approach, the state is now revamping government school education in partnership with private players to ensure that a large share of jobs created in sectors such as information technology, ports and so on go to students from government schools.
This is not just a stated intention; the plan is outlined in a government order of July 11. The state government has proposed to introduce in the school curriculum the whole range of futuristic technologies -- artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), large language models (LLM), data analytics, Web 3.0, augmented reality, virtual reality, internet of things, Central bank Digital Currency, 3D-Printing, and even gaming.
A high-level committee formed by Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy of the ruling YSR Congress to decide and finalise the curriculum and related infrastructure had representatives from top private sector companies. This included Ashutosh Chadha, director and country head (government affairs and public policy) at Microsoft, Shalini Kapoor, president and chief technologist at Amazon Web Services India, Shweta Khurana, senior director – Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ) at Intel and representatives from Nasscom among others. A senior government official told Business Standard that the state is looking for tie-ups with these private sector players.
“These private players are on board for a long-term involvement. We wanted to implement the skill sets related to new generation technologies and all to ensure that students studying in government schools in Andhra Pradesh are ahead of their competitors in getting jobs,” said Praveen Prakash, principal secretary, school education in Andhra Pradesh. The state has 44,512 government schools. Notably, the state was the first to reserve 75 per cent of jobs in private units for locals, which can be seen as a response to criticism that such a step would make it difficult for private investors to access skilled workers.
As a first step, the state is focusing on improving English language proficiency among students. To this end, on June 23, the state signed a deal with the US-based Educational Testing Service (ETS) to train the students of classes III to IX in attaining the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)-facing skills; the teachers will be sent to the US to acquire specialised teaching skills. According to one estimate, this should benefit around three million students attending state schools, including 12,45,191 students in the primary section and 17,56,566 in the secondary section.
This comes after the state started introducing audio-visual bilingual content from Byju’s for students in all schools for science, social science and mathematics. The state has also provided 5,18,740 personal tabs to class VIII students last year for learning enhancement with the Byju’s app and preloaded content. “There are 400,000-450,000 students in class VIII every year in Andhra Pradesh. Every year, we will be providing tabs to students in this class,” Prakash added. According to media reports, Byju’s was offering the state content worth around Rs 778 crore free of cost.
This year, the government has also sought to upgrade and digitise learning infrastructure in schools under the flagship Nadu Nedu programme, by installing 30,213 Interactive Flat panels (IFP) in high schools and 10,038 smart TVs in primary schools. The programme is expected to be completed by the end of December. The new initiatives are the continuation of steps like making English as a medium of instruction in all the government schools in 2019-20, which is benefitting around 4.1 million students.
The opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is, however, raising concerns about the involvement of loss-making Byju’s in a government project and the focus on English. Byju’s is under the ministry of corporate affairs’ scanner after the resignation of three board members and Deloitte Haskins and Sells Llp as the auditor of Byju’s parent company, Think and Learn. In FY21, Byju's reported a loss of over Rs 4,500 crore and is still to file its FY22 accounts.
“The state government is going against education in the mother-tongue, which would have helped students from poor backgrounds to have better understanding of their subjects. Moreover, why are they depending on a company that is facing so many allegations and is facing losses,” Dola Sree Bala Veeranjaneya Swamy, a senior TDP MLA, told Business Standard
Earlier TDP had raised issues regarding the procurement of Samsung T220 lite tablets. The TDP had alleged that this was priced at around Rs 11,999 on online shopping platforms, while the state spends about Rs 13,262 for each of them. They countered that the Department of School Education saved Rs 187 crore through the deal as the total cost, including tablets, three-year warranty plus battery, mobile device management for three years, OTG cable, flip cover and 64 GB memory card cost around Rs 12,843 per unit against a market price of Rs 16,446 per unit.
In contrast, industry experts are upbeat about private sector collaborations and indicate that the introduction of AI and ChatGPT to curriculum needs more deliberations. “Collaborations are the need of the hour. Governments are not in the business of creating technical content. If a bunch of content is created and can be used, it can be made use of,” said Maheshwer Peri, founder of online career counselling and education services firm Careers360.
He added that the introduction of new subjects needs further discussion; tools such ChatGPT should not be used for “cheating”. “We should discuss at what level we should introduce and how much we introduce. If students start asking ChatGPT and responding to questions, it will be of no use,” Peri added.
Whatever the view of opposition parties, students, too, are happy. “In addition to tabs for students, we have a digital classroom now with interactive panels, so that we can understand our lessons on a big screen. We are also getting Byju’s content from school, which is also helping me understand difficult subjects better. Now, I am looking forward to TOEFL classes too,” said Rohitha K, a class VIII student from Zilla Parishad High School in Penamaluru.
Given the large number of schools involved, the state government’s biggest challenge may be efficient implementation.
