11 more govt schools to get smart classes

Students of eleven more government-run Jayaprakash Narayan Sarvodaya Schools in the state will get exposure to smart classes on the lines of convent educational institutes.

The UP government has released Rs 46.80 lakh as the first instalment to set up smart classes for poor students.

“The information regarding the release of funds has been conveyed to the director, social welfare, by under secretary Kamta Prasad through a missive dated June 16,” said a senior official of the department.

The benefiting schools include one each in Rae Bareli, Jhansi, Ballia, Gonda, Etawah, Jalaun and Allahabad. Two schools each in Saharanpur and Varanasi will also be benefited.

Earlier in March, the government released Rs 80.84 lakh for establishing smart class rooms in 19 Sarvodaya Schools.

The state government has allocated Rs 26 crore for the mission. The sanctioned amount of Rs 46.80 lakh and the earlier Rs 80.84 lakh are a part of Rs 6.98 crore for the first phase of the project. Sarvodaya Schools are affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education and are managed by the department of social welfare and tribal development, UP. These institutions are run on traditional ‘ashram’ model for poor students belonging to backward classes, Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes and de-notified tribes. There are 93 Sarvodaya Schools, including four in Allahabad, that offer free education and residential facilities to students up to class 12. The smart classes are for students of classes 9 to 12.

The 19 schools included three in Sonbhadra, two each in Lucknow and Hardoi and one each at Bulandshahr, Banda, Faizabad, Mainpuri, Jhansi, Kheri, Robertsganj, Gonda, Rae Bareli, Chitrakoot, Basti and Manikpur.