Minister for Food, Civil Supplies & Consumer Affairs and Information, Choudhary Zulfkar Ali today laid the foundation of 49 schools under Project Tameer - an innovative project involving convergence of resources for construction of 100 buildings for building-less schools in district Rajouri. The estimated project cost of the 49 schools for which foundation stone was laid today is Rs 4.90 crore.Addressing a mammoth gathering at Palma after laying the foundation, Choudhary Zulfkar complimented the District Administration Rajouri for coming up with an innovative project for providing buildings to 100 building-less schools during the current year and devising the project in a very short span of time. He said the project will give a major boost to education in rural and far flung areas as it will do away with infrastructure deficiencies which often lead to absenteeism and poor quality of education in such areas.
The Minister impressed upon the officers of the District Administration, Education department, teachers, parents and students to put in all their efforts for improving quality of education in the government schools especially in rural areas, adding that, education will lead to real empowerment of people. Describing establishment of Government Medical College, proposed industrial estate, LPG bottling plant and other institutions coming up in district Rajouri as game-changers, he asked the youth and students to avail opportunities of skill enhancement for varied employment opportunities which will be made possible through quality education.Mr Zulfkar expressed satisfaction over the pace of developmental works in Rajouri and asked the District Administration for completion of all 100 schools in a time-bound manner in next 4 months so that buildings are provided to students during ongoing session and before annual examination.
Earlier, District Development Commissioner Rajouri, Dr Shahid Iqbal Choudhary informed that 163 schools were identified without buildings and 100 schools were prioritized for current financial year under under Project "Tameer". He said the Education department has contributed Rs 4.53 crore while Rs 5.47 crore has been arranged under Convergence for the corpus of Rs 10 crore for construction of these schools through Rural Development Department.He said that nearly 3500 students enrolled in these schools will be benefitted and asked the parents and teachers to work for doubling the enrolment as these schools are now being provided with good buildings. He assured that executing agencies will complete the project well within the stipulated time.