Quantum courses to LEAP model, schools in Andhra Pradesh see major policy push in 2025

The Andhra Pradesh School Education Department underwent far-reaching reforms in 2025, marked by a series of policy-driven and structural initiatives.

One of the most notable measures was the recent announcement by Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on the proposal to introduce quantum technology courses in school curriculum. The objective is to prepare students with future-ready skills and enable them to explore emerging opportunities in the rapidly advancing fields of quantum computing and Artificial Intelligence.

The year also witnessed the rollout of the Learning Excellence in Andhra Pradesh (LEAP) model from the 2025–26 academic year, with a renewed emphasis on play-based learning, Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) and adoption of AI-enabled assessment tools to enhance learning outcomes.

Minister for Human Resource Development (HRD) Nara Lokesh announced the LEAP initiative in an apparent bid to address poor learning outcomes highlighted by the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), which indicated significant gaps in basic reading, math and critical thinking among students in the State, showing that many young learners rely on rote memorisation.

To actively engage parents in the academic development of their children, the State hosted a mega Parent-Teacher Meeting (PTM) on July 10, 2025, which is said to have drawn the participation of over 15 million parents and teachers. Moreover, Andhra Pradesh set a Guinness World Record by hosting the world’s largest PTM.

In a parallel initiative, a major teacher recruitment exercise was taken up through DSC-2025 and more than 16,000 vacant teacher posts across government, municipal and special schools were filled, fulfilling a long pending demand of scores of teacher aspirants.

Implementation of teacher transfers (67,732) and promotions (4,477) greatly helped the school education authorities to address the disquiet among teachers to an extent.

In what was considered a remedy to the vexatious issue of the burden of workload on teachers on account of the multiple apps they were expected to operate besides their teaching duties, the government, in February, approved a Unified School Education Digital App, intended to replace nearly 45 separate teacher-facing applications.

The officials said the initiative was aimed to reduce administrative burden on teachers, streamline data entry, and improve real-time engagement among teachers, parents, and administrators through a single digital interface.

However, teacher unions argue that workload has not meaningfully reduced, as the unified app has not led to a reduction in the number of components teachers must upload.

Launch of a new standardised government school uniform in cream and olive green, consciously designed to be neutral and non-political, reinforcing inclusivity and adoption of an NCERT-aligned bilingual curriculum, enriched with QR-coded digital content, to strengthen foundational literacy, numeracy, digital skills, and competency-based instruction from Classes 1 to 10, in March were welcomed by all.

Enactment of the Andhra Pradesh State Teachers Transfers Regulation Act, 2025, operationalised on April 9 was a significant development that introduced a statutory, web-based counselling system for teacher transfers, replacing ad-hoc practices. It established clear norms based on pupil–teacher ratios, service entitlements, counselling points and penalties for false documentation, following consultations with teacher stakeholders.

The latter half of the year witnessed expansion of technology and civic education footprint. AI, STEM, and Robotics Labs were inaugurated in 50 government schools with CSR support and candidates who qualified in the DSC were given appointment letters in September.

December concluded with the launch of a 75-Day FLN Mission, a 100-Day Action Plan for SSC students and launch of ‘Mustabu’, a new initiative focusing on student hygiene, discipline, confidence, and leadership.

Despite the breadth and ambition of the reforms, teacher unions and grassroots educators have expressed concern over difficulty in adhering to the academic calendar.

Published – December 31, 2025 08:37 pm IST