President’s village to become ‘smart’
President Ram Nath Kovind studied under a tree in a ‘school’ in an Uttar Pradesh village that has now been reduced to a cowshed. It was another story then.
The Union ministry of human resource development (MHRD) has taken up the task of developing all government schools in Kovind’s ancestral village Paraukhan in Kanpur Dehat.
On Monday, the eve of Kovind’s swearing in as the President, a senior MHRD official from New Delhi called Kanpur Dehat basic shiksha adhikari (BSA) Pawan Tripathi and asked him to prepare a detailed proposal so that the rejuvenation work in these schools could start at the earliest.
“Presently, 100 students are enrolled in the government upper primary school and 225 students in the three primary schools. They are bereft of any facilities. They do not even have tables and chairs and have to sit on the floor. But all this will soon be a thing of the past. The MHRD has communicated to us that the students will now enjoy better facilities,” Tripathi said.
The four existing government primary schools and one upper primary school in Paraukhan will have smart classes with computers ‘driven’ by solar power so that students get uninterrupted power supply.
The 325-odd students of these government schools, which have no facilities at all, can also hope to get projectors and prerecorded lectures.
The schools’ buildings will undergo complete renovation and students will get the best of facilities in few months’ time.
Assistant director, basic education (Kanpur region), Fateh Bahadur said, “We have received verbal communication from the MHRD. It is definitely heartening news for all students studying in those government schools. This will also help in increasing the student enrolment of not only these schools but also those in surrounding areas.” Kovind studied in Paraukhan till Class 5.