300 Acres for Rockets, Broken Schools for Our Children – And Now Skill Assessment Talk?

Look at this government. Look at what they call vision. They take nearly 300 acres – 294 acres given cheap at ₹5 lakh per acre – and hand it over for rocket manufacturing and launch vehicles. Space City plans are announced. Ministers clap. Headlines shout that Andhra will become a space hub. Rockets will fly. Satellites will go up.

But walk into the government schools. See the unfinished works. See the classrooms still waiting for proper facilities. See the children dropping out. See the youth finishing studies and standing unemployed – youth unemployment sitting at 16%. See the skill gap that has existed for years. These same children are not ready for today’s jobs, let alone for some high-tech rocket future years from now.

Is this the priority? Tell me.

Now Chandrababu talks of skill assessment. He speaks of skill census. He says identify the gaps, train the youth, match them to jobs. Fine words. In 2024 they started a pilot in Mangalagiri. Traditional survey method. It failed. They themselves admitted it fell flat. Then they shifted to AI talk, Naipunyam portal, real-time assessments, skill cards, ranking youth for companies. They say district skill development plans are ready for all districts. They talk of sector clusters – space technology, aquaculture, quantum computing. They announce 15 skill clusters. They promise monthly job fairs in every constituency. They claim 6.28 lakh jobs in 21 months and target 20 lakh by 2029. Deep-tech training with IBM. MSME parks in 175 constituencies. One Family One Entrepreneur. Random skill audits. District-wise skill maps. All the big words are there.

But where is the completed statewide skill census with clear, public, district-wise skill gaps listed? Where is the simple list showing which district lacks what skill, how many youth are short in which trade, and what exact training has closed those gaps? Older reports from years ago exist. Some sector studies cover some districts. But the full picture of today’s gaps, district by district, is not placed before the people in clear numbers. Talk is there. Execution of a transparent, complete assessment that the common man can see and verify is still missing.

How will the jobs come? Through the portal, they say. Through AI matching. Through space city and rocket factories. Through industrial investments and skill clusters. Through job fairs and MSME parks. The land is given for rockets. The portal is launched. The targets are announced. But the foundation – schools that actually teach, basic skills that employers need today, youth who are ready without waiting years for high-tech clusters – remains weak. The unemployed youth still wait for notifications. The skill mismatch continues. Big projects are announced while the daily reality of unskilled and under-employed youth stays.

Does Chandrababu think he is some Elon Musk? Giving land for rockets, talking of space cities, quantum valleys, AI portals, deep-tech skilling – all while the schools still need fixing and the skill gaps are not fully mapped and closed in every district. Musk builds rockets with private money and private risk. Here public land is given cheap, public promises are made, and the common people’s education and employment problems are left for later. Vision is good. But vision without first securing the base is just talk.

Ask the rulers again. When schools remain incomplete, when dropouts continue, when youth unemployment is real, when a full transparent district-wise skill gap list is not placed before the people, is handing over 300 acres for launch vehicles the urgent need? Or is the harder work of fixing classrooms, completing the skill assessment properly, and creating jobs that match today’s youth the real priority?

The land is allotted. The rocket project is approved. The skill talks continue. The portal is praised. But the children are still waiting for proper schools. The youth are still waiting for skills that employ them now. That is the truth.

Priorities reveal the heart. Right now the heart is with the rockets and the big announcements. The schools, the real skill gaps, and the unemployed youth can wait. Is this development? Or is this neglect dressed up as vision once again?