stretch of , that encircles the city with its start and end points on NH 16. The other arterial city roads include, the Grand Trunk Road, JKC College Road, Lakshmipuram Road, Pattabhipuram Road and Palakaluru Road etc. The city is connected to major destinations by National highways, State highways and district roads. National Highway 16 passes on the eastern side of the city, which is also a part of Asian Highway 45 and Golden Quadrilateral. The National Highway NH167A and State Highway 2 connect the city with Macherla and Hyderabad. National Highway NH544D connects Guntur city with Anantapur and towards Bengaluru by NH44. A new Expressway is proposed connecting the city to Rayalaseema region with faster access. State Highway 48 connects the city with seashore and beaches through Bapatla and Chirala. The Guntur–Amaravati, Guntur– Nandivelugu, Guntur-Tenali. and Guntur-Parchoor roads are the district roads connecting their respective destinations. Education and research The primary and secondary school education is imparted by government, aided and private schools, under the School Education Department of the state. As per the school information report for the academic year 2015–16, the city limits (including the merged villages) have more than one lakh students enrolled in over 400 schools. The Central Board of Secondary Education, Secondary School Certificate or the Indian Certificate of Secondary Education are the different types of syllabi followed by different schools. The medium of instruction followed by schools are Telugu, English and Urdu. The public library system is supported by the government with the central library located at Arundalpet. Government colleges and institutions include, Guntur Medical College, Government Junior College for Girls. There exists one residential college under APRJC, ten private aided, two co-operative and many private unaided colleges. Hindu College, A.C College are some of the older institutes in the city. JKC College, RVR & JC College of Engineering, Tellakula Jalayya Polisetty Somasundaram College (TJPS College), Government College for Women and St. Joseph's College of Education for Women are the autonomous colleges approved under Universities Grant Commission scheme. The AIIMS in Mangalagiri is a central medical institute near the city region. The Agricultural University at Lam village is administered from Gorantla area of the city. The Acharya Nagarjuna University, a state university located at Namburu, affiliates many colleges and institutes of the city. Research centres related to different fields such as, Regional AGMARK laboratory, regional station of Central Tobacco Research Institute of Indian