Knowledge
Andhra Pradesh government taps NRIs to get funding for state govt schools.
The Andhra government is entering into public-private partnerships under which government schools and classrooms will be named after NRIs who adopt them and help in creating infrastructure like classrooms, furniture, computers, laboratories, libraries and boundary walls.
The relatively new state of Andhra Pradesh is employing innovative ways of generating funds to meet its budgetary needs. The latest trick employed is engaging in the public-private partnership model under which the state will name government schools and classrooms after NRIs who adopt them.
Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Srinivasa Rao announced last week, that the government will name the state’s educational institutions and classrooms after NRIs, if they help in creating infrastructure in govt schools.
On the proposed reimbursement of tuition fees, the minister said that a biometric authentication system will be introduced to extend the benefits of the said proposal to the students.
This isn’t the first time that a state has looked abroad to form public-private partnerships. Back in 2010, the TN government too had launched a similar scheme to finance infrastructure in government schools.
The then principal secretary of Education M. Kutralingam signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the state government and the Tamil Nadu Foundation (TNF) – a Tamil association based in the United States.
The MoU stated that the foundation would invest in school infrastructure projects in various districts. The public-private partnership framework defined by the state and the TNF stated that ‘anybody can adopt a school for providing classrooms, furniture, computers, laboratories, libraries, and boundary walls.”
The MoU was positioned as an opportunity for the NRIs to give back to India, while encouraging Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR).
It is noteworthy that the Andhra government has inked this public-private partnership even when it has allocated a budget of ₹17,503 crores for the state’s education sector in the financial year 2016-17. This budget is inclusive of ₹1299 crores for Sarva Shiksha Abhyan (a Central initiative to universalize education).
Whether thousands of crores is insufficient for 1 year or the government is confident of spending its entire budget and that’s why it has tapped into the Diaspora for more funds is a topic for another day. With NRI funds flowing in, the state will soon have classrooms with better infrastructure as well as sophisticated digital ones.
This novel move by the government however has drawn its own share of cynicism, with many wanting to know whether funds would be solicited for the same citing patriotism, or would just end up as yet another status symbol flaunted by NRIs.