Celebrating his birthday in the tribal region with students, Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy formally launched the distribution of tabs to Class VIII students here on Thursday.

Addressing a public meeting of school children and their parents, the Chief Minister said that the children are our future, and the government has been spending huge amounts on educational reforms to turn the students into global products.

The distribution of tabs, worth Rs 620 crore to 4,34,285 students, will take place for the next ten days across the State and MLAs, school teachers and Education Department officials will oversee the distribution in every mandal.

He said that each tab is worth Rs 33,000 including the Byju’s content worth Rs. 15, 500 and reiterated that investment on education is productive investment on future human resources. The study material-loaded tabs would guide the students as tutors and change their future for good.

The tabs would contain useful applications like AI (Artificial Intelligence)-aided doubt-clearance and learning foreign languages apps, he said, stating that they would work like teachers and help students improve their knowledge.

Dismissing reports that the students are going astray with the tabs, he said that parents would be able to track the way they are used by their children. This is the second consecutive year that the tabs are being distributed to the students of class 8, and so far, the government has distributed 9, 52, 925 tabs worth Rs. 1306 crore.

The Chief Minister said that distribution of tabs is also one of the programmes taken up as part of reforms being implemented in the educational sector aiming at improving the standards of students and making them globally acceptable products with knowledge of emerging technologies.

Digitalisation of 62097 class rooms from class 6 and above would be completed by the end of January and it would help students become the best in the world, he said, observing that the facade of education and job market would totally change in the next 20 years.

In tune with the changing world’s government will introduce future skills like training for students of classes 8 and above from next academic year so that they would learn advanced subjects like Cyber security, virtual reality, AI, machine learning, augmented reality and data and robotic analytics along with IB (International Baccalaureate) syllabus and efforts are on to appoint tutors and train them.

With TOEFL training being given to students from class 3 onwards, introduction of bilingual text books and more and more students joining English medium schools, Government schools are competing with corporate schools, he said, adding that pro-educational welfare schemes like Jagananna Vidya Deevena, Amma Vodi and Vasathi Deevena are also giving desired results.

Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy directed the Medical and Health Department officials to instil confidence among people that all Aarogyasri card holders can avail free medical treatment up to Rs 25 lakh under YSR Aarogyasri.

At a review meeting on the launching of the extended Aarogyasri scheme at the Tadepalli on Wednesday, the Chief Minister told officials that the Government has a responsibility to extend the benefits of health and education to people as a matter of right.

The officials should give an assurance to people that any eligible person who is in need of medical treatment for any ailment can avail it free of cost up to Rs. 25 lakh under Aarogyasri. The extended beneficial YSR Aarogyasri scheme on December 18 and MLAs will participate in the follow-up programmes being held in villages in every constituency from the next day, he said.

The government has enhanced the free medical treatment limit to Rs. 25 lakh with humanity and officials also should act with responsibility in extending the benefit to necessary people with a humanistic approach to implement the historic decision, he said.

Whoever undergoes medical treatment under Aarogyasri should be given Rs. 300 towards charges when they go to doctors again for follow-up consultation. Similarly, patients identified in Jagananna Arogya Suraksha should also be given Rs. 500 each to visit hospitals.

The specially developed video on availing free medical treatment under Aarogyasri should be made available to volunteers, secretariat staff and officials of health department besides making it accessible to all people, he suggested.

The Chief Minister also directed the officials to construct residential quarters for the specialist doctors working in the Government hospitals. The department is printing new Aarogyasri cards and these would be distributed to all households across the State. Officials are planning to complete the distribution by January end.

That apart, a massive public awareness campaign would be launched on availing free medical treatment under Aarogyasri and ANMs, CHOs, ASHA workers, volunteers, enthusiasts, people’s representatives and women police will participate in the massive campaign.

They will also help people download the Disha App besides handholding the patients being treated under Aarogyasri and handing over medicines to them.

Directing the officials to launch the second phase of the Jagananna Arogya Suraksha from January 1, the Chief Minister told them to conduct one Suraksha camp in a village in each mandal in rural areas and one camp in a ward in urban areas every week.

He said that medical treatment being extended to kidney patients in Uddhanam area should be extended to kidney patients in other areas also by making available all necessary medicines in village health clinics which would be operated by family doctors.

The treatment facilities being made available in Palasa should also be made available in the medical college at Markapuram, he told the officials. The doctors should support the kidney patients by conducting necessary tests and extending treatment, he said, adding that the Urology department also should be established along with Nephrology sections in all new medical colleges.

Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday promised total support to the farmers who were hit by the cyclone. He told them that the government would come to their rescue and pay compensation at the earliest.

He held a review meeting with the officials at his Tadepalli camp office on the day. He reviewed the relief measures in the cyclone-affected districts with District Collectors and SPs through video conference and directed the officials to work on a compassionate approach.

“The cyclone has now weakened, and all the authorities should focus on bringing normal conditions in your respective areas. Be sympathetic to the affected people, put yourselves in their shoes and work on their needs. Assistance should be given to people who are returning from camps, and there should be no defect in distribution of ration.”

He also directed them to remove water from the crop fields and said that the government stands by the farmers. From crop protection, purchase of stained grain and discoloured grain to the supply of seeds on 80 percent subsidy, everything has to be provided to the farmers.

“Electricity should be restored on war footing mode. Further, immediate steps should be taken to repair roads in areas damaged by the cyclone and facilitate the resumption of transportation services. As a priority, focus on sanitation to avoid disease spread in rainfed areas,” said the Chief Minister.

He also informed that the government would support the family of the constable from Kadapa, who lost his life after a tree fell on him during the rescue hours. “A financial ex gratia of Rs.30 lakhs will be provided to support the family during this difficult time,” said the Chief Minister.

Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy has instructed the education department officials to ensure internet connectivity in all schools during the review meeting at his Tadepalli camp office on Friday.

The chief minister has also asked the officials to ensure two junior colleges in each Mandal, one women’s college, and the other a co-education. He also asked the officials to present the status report of the junior colleges in the next meeting.

The officials explained to the Chief Minister on the department’s preparedness to distribute tabs to the 8th class students like the previous year and said, over 7000 tabs given to students which were damaged due to various reasons have been replaced.

“We have installed doubt clearance apps in the tabs and the distribution of tabs to teachers has brought reliable changes in teaching. They (teachers) who received tabs last year used an average of 77 minutes per day, while the students spent an average of 67 minutes learning the curriculum. Further, the second phase of IFP panels will be set up by the end of December,” said the officials.

The officials also told him that the government has spent over Rs 3,746.82 crores in the second phase of the Nadu-Nedu works in the schools by providing 11 types of facilities and in junior colleges.

The officials informed the chief minister that the number of students writing exams in English medium increased significantly. “It is to be noted that only 37.03 percent of the country are writing exams in English medium while 84.11 percent are writing exams in Andhra Pradesh. In terms of TOEFL training, one class per day is being conducted under the orders of the Chief Minister,” said the officials.

The officials explained the steps taken to implement the IB curriculum in the state and said, “Senior officials have already attended the working group meetings. As part of phase 1, the study will be done on curriculum, assessment, teacher training, teaching plan etc. Further, a training program for teachers will be conducted as part of the second phase. The IB curriculum will start from the next academic year for the first standard, and gradually every year the IB will be expanded by one class.”

Regarding the training of future skills, the officials said, “One period on future skills for every 6th class from next academic year onwards. We will use the services of experts in engineering colleges that will give training to children in future skills. The government will pay the stipend to them.”

They also informed the process of introducing foreign language courses like Spanish, German, Japanese, and Arabic to the school students from class 9 as an additional option and talked with various entities like English and Foreign Languages University, Duolingo, and others. “This will give more opportunities to children,” said the officials.