West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said the Kanyashree Prakalpa - a scheme for girls - would be included in the schools' academic syllabus."The Kanyashree scheme has been extended to 27 lakh girls in the state. The scheme has been so successful that it was highlighted at World Girls' Summit, 2014 in London," Banerjee said here at an event marking the day as 'Kanyashree Divas'.Hailing the scheme, Banerjee said it should be included in the school syllabus with the beneficiary girls writing about it."There should be a chapter on Kanyashree in our school syllabus. The girls enrolled in the scheme should provide inputs and we will edit it. In the next edition of the Kanyashree Divas, we will launch the new chapter," said Banerjee.
Started in 2013, under the scheme Rs.750 is provided every year to a girl student enrolled between Class VIII and XII and a onetime grant of Rs.25,000 is given to the student after she turns 18.Unicef's representative to India Louis-Georges Arsenault along with several Bengali movie stars was present at the event.On the occasion, Banerjee declared Coochbehar, Murshidabad and Birbhum the "Best Performing Districts" in implementing the scheme while Purulia and South Dinajpur received 'Special Awards' for effectively implementing it.