Nara Lokesh Advocates for Curriculum Overhaul and Skill Development Reforms

Education Minister N Lokesh has called for a significant revamp of the academic curriculum to meet the evolving demands of industries. During a review meeting with the State Higher Education Department officials at his residence in Undavalli on Monday, Lokesh emphasized the need to align educational programs with current market trends, starting from the next academic year.

He stressed that skill development should be an integral part of college curricula, reducing the need for retraining after students graduate. Lokesh proposed the addition of civil engineering training to existing computer science and mechanical courses. He also called for active collaboration with industry leaders to ensure that these changes reflect real-world requirements.

Lokesh voiced concerns over the state’s universities falling behind in the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) and called for expert intervention to elevate their performance. Setting ambitious targets, he aimed for all state universities to improve their rankings by 2027, with Andhra and Acharya Nagarjuna Universities striving for a spot in the top 10. To bolster university reputations, he suggested launching a website to showcase distinguished alumni and enhance branding efforts.

He further proposed holding special meetings with notable alumni to set long-term goals for advancing educational standards by 2030 and 2047. Lokesh unveiled plans to introduce an Aadhar-linked APAAR ID for each student and integrate DIGILocker for easy document management. This system will aid students affected by recent floods by recovering lost certificates, and future certifications will be issued digitally. To address delays in certificate verification for APPSC exams, Lokesh suggested leveraging AI with DIGILocker to expedite the process.

During the meeting, officials informed Lokesh about outstanding post-matric scholarship arrears of ₹2,473 crore and ₹89 crore owed for foreign education, which will be addressed in an upcoming meeting with the Chief Minister.

As part of a 100-day action plan, Lokesh instructed officials to draft a roadmap for establishing a world-class AI university and a sports university in the state. He also proposed simplifying government services, including via WhatsApp, and streamlining the counselling process for entrance exams.

Lokesh also discussed organizing inter-university sports competitions, developing a framework for the proposed sports university, and addressing other issues such as research, innovation passports, university governance boards, and the appointment of vice-chancellors. Additionally, he reviewed the Skill Development Department’s progress and initiated a pilot skill census in Mangalagiri.