Officials told to improve academic standards in government schools

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IT Minister and TDP national general secretary gets a rousing reception at Y junction in Vizianagaram on Saturday. | Photo Credit: Arrangement

Minister for IT and HRD Nara Lokesh directed officials of the Education department and the teaching fraternity to improve the academic standards of children in government schools. He also urged them to focus more on science, mathematics and English language to ensure a strong academic foundation for the schoolchildren.

He organised a virtual HRD cluster meeting from the Government Girls High School in Dasannapeta of Vizianagaram district on Saturday. Mr. Lokesh interacted with teachers and academicians from various districts and sought suggestions for further improvement of standards in the schools. He said that collective efforts had enabled the Education department to ensure better results in previous Class X examinations and expressed hope that the government schools would achieve the best results in the 2026-27 academic year as well.

The Minister also interacted with Vizianagaram District Collector S. Ramsundar Reddy, District Education Officer U. Manikyam Naidu, Deputy DEO and school headmistress P. Ramanamma at the school premises.

Speaking to The Hindu , Ms. Ramanamma expressed happiness over the Minister’s visit to the school, which received public attention following the spectacular results in Class X examinations. She said that over 20 students secured more than 550 marks out of the total 600 marks in the examination.

IT Minister Nara Lokesh with the NCC cadets at Government Girls High School in Dasannapeta in Vizianagaram district on Saturday. | Photo Credit: Arrangement

A Class X student and NCC cadet, Yakshitha Katari, said that she and her friends were thrilled to see the Minister at their school. “Mr. Lokesh’s visit has motivated us to achieve the best results for our school in the 2026-27 academic year,” she added.

Later in the evening, Mr. Lokesh interacted with Ministers, including Kondapalli Srinivas (MSME), Vangalapudi Anitha (Home Affairs), Vizianagaram MLA Aditi Vijaya Lakshmi, and others at the party’s review meeting held at Chelluru village.

According to sources, he said that the party would gather information about the leaders and offer tickets to those with clean track records. The leaders informed him that the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) had rigged the previous local body elections and won over 90% seats. Mr. Lokesh said that the people were happy with the governance of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s administration and hoped that the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and its alliance parties would sweep the local body elections scheduled to be held in a couple of months.

IT Minister Nara Lokesh interacts with BJP senior leader Bavireddi Shivaprasad Reddy in Vizianagaram on Saturday. | Photo Credit: Arrangement

Meanwhile, BJP senior leader Bavireddy Shivaprasad Reddy met Mr. Lokesh separately and said that NDA parties were very strong in Vizianagaram district. Mr.