353 model schools to come up in AP

HYDERABAD: The Centre has sanctioned Rs 409.77 crore to Andhra Pradesh as a first instalment to set up 353 new model schools in the educationally backward blocks in the state. The amount will be released to the Andhra Pradesh Secondary Education Society under the Centrally-sponsored programme of scheme for setting up of 6,000 model schools at block level as benchmark of excellence.In the first phase, 3,500 model schools would be set up all over the country. The next instalment would be released after the state spends 50 p.c of the released grants.In a statement issued on Wednesday, chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy thanked Union minister for human resources development Kapil Sibal for releasing the grants. The state would release its share to the AP Secondary Education Society shortly. The HRD ministry has also sanctioned Rs 2.32 crore to the society as grants-in-aid under the scheme.In the recently concluded ‘Education Fortnight’, the state government has inaugurated 1,067 high school complexes and laid foundation stones for 75 Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas and 500 more high school complexes in AP. Estimated expenditure during ‘Education Fortnight’ is likely to be about Rs 2,500 crore.