School Education gets highest allocations of ₹32,308 crore in A.P. Budget

The School Education Department has received the highest allocation of ₹32,308 crore in the Andhra Pradesh State budget for the financial year 2026-27, presented by the Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav on Saturday.

This outlay includes ₹1,500 crore specifically for upgrading infrastructure in public schools. For the Higher Education Department, ₹2,567 crore has been allocated, while the government plans to spend ₹1,232 crore on the Skill Development and Training Department.

Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Nara Lokesh’s focus has been on the outcome-based initiatives to equip students to compete in the global arena.

The TDP-led coalition has been alleging that the public education system had suffered academic and institutional setbacks during the tenure of the YSRCP between 2019 and 2024, with ‘poorly planned reforms creating chaos’.

The previous YSRCP government has been accused of the ‘hasty CBSE transition’ of 1,000 government schools, resulting in the failure of nearly 90 % of students. The TOEFL programme, which was introduced abruptly, collapsed due to the lack of preparedness of teachers, said the coalition leaders, alleging that public money was wasted on an unrealistic IB curriculum proposal.

In the Budget speech, the Finance Minister said under Nadu-Nedu, the governance failure by the previous government had left infrastructure works valued at ₹7,876 crore incomplete.

Since June 2024, he said the coalition government had initiated comprehensive, outcome-oriented reforms through initiatives such as Talliki Vandanam (budget allocation of ₹9,668 crore), Mana Badi Mana Bhavishyathu (₹1,500 crore), Dokka Seethamma Mid-Day Meal programme (₹2,161 crore), PM Schools for Rising India (₹707 crore) and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Vidyardhi Mitra (₹654 crore).

Besides, other focus areas include sanitation and maintenance funds, curriculum reforms, digital learning, teacher capacity building and governance restructuring. Through Mega DSC- 2025, 15,941 teachers were recruited to fill the vacant teacher posts in government-run schools.

A major overhaul of this sector includes extensive renovation in schools, completion of the projects left unfinished by the previous government, upgradation of tribal residential schools and introduction of AI-driven learning tools. 

To align its policies with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, plans are afoot to introduce AI-driven curriculum, digital literacy and holistic learning through the Learning Excellence in Andhra Pradesh (LEAP) programme.

The government also initiated the reorganisation of school complexes, grouping smaller schools to improve resource allocation and operational efficiency.  The overhaul aims to boost the confidence of the parents in public education and reduce dropout rates by providing a modern and safe learning environment.