An amount of ₹ 2,161 crore has been earmarked in the Andhra Pradesh budget for the Dokka Seethamma Mid Day Meal programme. | Photo credit: File Photo
The education department received the highest allocation of ₹ 32,308 crore from the Andhra Pradesh state budget for the financial year 2026-27, which was presented by Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav on Saturday.
This expenditure includes ₹1,500 crore specifically for upgrading infrastructure in public schools. ₹2,567 crore has been allocated for the higher education department, while the government plans to spend ₹1,232 crore on the skill development and training department.
Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Nara Lokesh has focused on results-based initiatives to prepare students to compete in the global arena.
The TDP-led coalition claims that the public education system has suffered academic and institutional setbacks during the YSRCP’s tenure from 2019 to 2024, with “ill-planned reforms creating chaos”.
The previous YSRCP government was accused of “fast-tracking CBSE” in 1,000 government schools, resulting in the failure of nearly 90% of students. The TOEFL program, which was introduced suddenly, collapsed due to a lack of teacher preparation, coalition leaders said, arguing that public money was being wasted on an unrealistic IB curriculum design.
In the budget speech, the finance minister said for Nadu-Nedu, the failure of the previous government had resulted in infrastructure works worth ₹7,876 crore not being completed.
As of June 2024, he said that the coalition government had launched comprehensive results-oriented reforms through initiatives such as Talliki Vandanam (allocated budget of ₹9,668 million), Mana Badi Mana Bhavishyathu (₹1,500 million), Dokka Seethamma Mid-Day School 2, Rising crore India program (₹161 (₹707 million) and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Vidyardhi Mitra (₹654 million).
Other areas of focus include sanitation and maintenance funds, curriculum reforms, digital learning, teacher capacity building and governance restructuring. 15,941 teachers were recruited through Mega DSC-2025 to fill the vacant teaching posts in government schools.
The major overhaul of the sector includes extensive renovation of schools, completion of projects left unfinished by the previous government, modernization of tribal residential schools and introduction of artificial intelligence-driven learning tools.
In order to align its policies with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, it is preparing to introduce AI-driven curriculum, digital literacy and holistic learning through Learning Excellence in Andhra Pradesh (LEAP).
The government has also initiated the reorganization of school complexes, grouping smaller schools to improve resource allocation and operational efficiency. The goal of the revision is to strengthen parents’ confidence in public education and reduce the dropout rate by providing a modern and safe learning environment.
Published – 14 Feb 2026 19:52 IST