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Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy appealed to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to exempt education-related borrowings from the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) limits, as the state rolls out an ambitious 30,000-crore plan to strengthen the education sector during his meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday.
During a meeting at the Finance Minister's chamber in Parliament, Reddy sought the Centre's support for large-scale investments aimed at providing quality education to students from Backwards Classes, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and minority communities, who together form a majority of the state's population. The Chief Minister briefed Sitharaman on the flagship Young India Integrated Residential Schools (YIIRS) project, under which 105 fully integrated schools are being established across Telangana, one in each Assembly constituency. Each YIIRS will have a student strength of about 2,560, offering education from Class 5 to Class 12. Once operational, the schools are expected to benefit approximately 2.70 lakh students directly. Revanth Reddy said the YIIRS campuses, equipped with state-of-the-art classrooms, laboratories, hostels and stadiums, would also function as academic hubs for nearby government schools, indirectly benefiting lakhs of additional students. The construction of the 105 residential schools alone would require an estimated Rs 21,000 crore, he said. In addition, the state plans to invest another Rs 9,000 crore to upgrade infrastructure across junior colleges, degree colleges, technical institutions, and other higher-education facilities, including modern laboratories and learning resources. Together, the initiatives amount to a comprehensive Rs 30,000-crore investment in Telangana's education ecosystem. Given the scale of funding required, the Chief Minister requested that loans raised through a proposed Special Purpose Centre (SPC) for the integrated schools be kept outside the FRBM borrowing limits. He urged the Union Finance Minister to view education expenditure as a long-term investment in human resource development rather than routine revenue spending. After the presentation, Sitharaman appreciated the Telangana government's special focus on strengthening the education sector, particularly the YIIRS initiative. She advised the Chief Minister to submit detailed information on the proposed SPC for further consideration. Members of Parliament Mallu Ravi, Suresh Shetkar, Chamala Kiran Kumar Reddy and Mandadi Anil Kumar were also present during the meeting. (ANI)
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