Days after a Jammu and Kashmir girl appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure basic facilities at her school in Kathua district, the local administration has started work to give it a facelift.
Class 3 student Seerat Naaz in a video had urged the PM to improve the condition of her school. Last week in a video, which went viral in no time, Naaz was seen appealing to the PM and giving a tour to her school. "Assalamu Alaikum Modiji. Kaise ho aap…aap sab ki baat suntey ho, meri bhi baat suno (Hello, Modiji. How are you? You listen to everyone, please listen to me also)," Naaz said in her over four-minute video.
Speaking about the dilapidated condition of the school, Naaz said students are forced to sit on dirty floors, which often stain their uniforms. She also highlighted the bad condition of the toilets, problems of open defecation and the unfinished construction work of the building. "You listen to the entire nation, please listen to me as well and build a nice school for us so that we can continue our education and not get scolded by our mothers for getting our uniforms dirty," the girl said in her passionate appeal to the prime minister.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration, taking note of the video clip, immediately swung into action to give the school a facelift.
"A project worth Rs 91 lakh was sanctioned to upgrade the school on modern lines but the work was stalled due to some issue related to administrative approval. It has now been sorted out and the work is underway," Sharma said after visiting the school. We have also started constructing 1,000 new kindergartens in all districts of Jammu province, and in the next three to four years, we will be able to ensure the construction of 250 kindergartens in each of the 10 districts (in Jammu province)," said Director of School Education, Jammu, Ravi Shankar Sharma who visited the government school in the remote Lohai-Malhar block.
