Andhra Pradesh human resource minister Nara Lokesh at the India Today South Conclave in Kochi said he chose the education portfolio as a Stanford MBA to contribute at scale, and aligning education with future needs will take at least a decade.
He claimed 1.10 lakh students shifted from private to government schools in the last two years, while 12 lakh had moved the other way under the previous YSRCP government. Lokesh also said as many as 16,000 teachers were recruited and trained during his tenure.
He called for overhauling examinations, cited transparent computer-based teacher recruitment and said none of the 300 cases filed over it were proven.
Lokesh said the youth’s biggest concern is jobs and that the state aims to create around 20 lakh jobs by linking curriculum and ITIs with industry and grounding investments, adding that AP drew 25 per cent of India’s investments last year.
He said the state is introducing AI and quantum computing courses with IBM and plans a 150-qubit computer in Amaravati.
On politics, he said he never aspired for higher office, acknowledged fiscal pressure, backed proportional representation to protect South India in delimitation, and supported his father’s call for more children citing AP’s 1.5 fertility rate.