Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh government is building its capital on farmlands but the core of the new capital is already “educationally forward” while some regions in the long standing capital of Hyderabad are still considered educationally backward by the Union HRD Ministry.

Interestingly, while Gachibowli houses one of the most important IT hubs of the country with thousands of engineers flocking into the region, neighbouring Ramach-andrapuram is educationally backward, according to the Union HRD Ministry. Ramachandrapuram, which falls in Medak district, is also noted for the Bharat Heavy Electri-cals Limited facility. Even Shamshabad, where the highly rated Rajiv Gandhi Interna-tional Airport is located, is educationally backward.

In contrast, the four most important mandals of the to-be-built capital region of Andhra Pradesh are already educationally forward though they are still considered rural.

The core of the AP capital region is in the Tullur, Mangalagiri, Duggirala and Tadepalle areas of Guntur district. All of them have been classified as non-educationally backward by the Centre and hence do not require any assistance.

T. Chiranjeevulu, commissioner, school education, Telangana, said, “Educationally Backward Blocks are identified by the Central government on the basis of the literacy rate. It is the sole criterion on which the Centre funds the setting up of schools. Educationally Andhra Pradesh fares better than TS, where almost 80 per cent of the blocks are considered ‘educationally backward". The TS government is now thinking of introducing new training courses for teachers in accordance with National Council of Teacher Education norms. This will also include teacher training for pre-primary schools that are currently non-existent in the government sector.