Ludhiana set to get 10 Schools of Happiness

The state government has decided to convert 425 government primary schools in the state into Schools of Happiness under the NABARD scheme. Each school will get a grant of Rs 40 lakh each and a total of Rs 171.70 crore will be spent under the scheme to upgrade these schools.

In the first phase, a total of 127 schools will get a facelift, for which many schools have already received the Rs 40 lakh grant each while the rest of the funds is expected to be received in the next few days. The government has covered almost all districts and the maximum number of Schools of Happiness will come up in Rupnagar (20) in Phase 1, followed by 13 at Fatehgarh Sahib and 10 each in Amritsar and Ludhiana.

Secretary, School Education, Punjab, Kamal Kishor Yadav has asked all District Education Officers (DEOs) to constitute teams under the guidance of Deputy DEOs and BPEOs so that these schools are visited regularly and also to ensure that designs and architecture are properly followed.

In Ludhiana, Rs 4,04,00,000 will be spent on 10 schools. Of this, Rs 2,32,94,000 has already been received by the schools.

District Education Officer (DEO) Ravinder Kaur said the grants will be utilised for constructing additional classrooms, common resource rooms, library rooms, computers, modern kitchens, drinking water facilities with RO, upgraded toilets, ramp and handrails, face-lift of gates and building, playground for games like kho-kho, kabaddi, swings, sliders, dining area etc. “The work at two schools, Government Primary School, Bhattian and Government Primary School, Galwaddi has already started,” said the DEO.

The 10 schools, chosen in first phase in Ludhiana district include: GPS Akhara, GPS Galwaddi, GPS Gobindgarh, GPS Kohara, GPS Bhattian, GPS Chuharpur, GPS Kasabad, GPS Mundian Khurd, GPS Johlan, GPS Ghalib Kalan.