CM iugurates new school building

FROM A CORRESPONDENT

SHILLONG, Feb 13: Chief Minister Dr Mukul Sangma today iugurated the new school building of Mukdangra Secondary School in South West Garo Hills district, which was sponsored under Inter-State Border Area Development Programme (ISBADP) 2014-15 through the Border Area Development Department.

The school was established in February, 1980 and the construction of the school building was completed last year at a total cost of Rs 30 lakh only.

In his address on the occasion, the Chief Minister expressed his joy to dedicate the school building to the people of the area which would become a permanent asset in the education sector and urged upon the local residents and the SMC members to take ownership of the school and take it to a higher level to attract more students of the area to join the school.

Highlighting the challenges of creating developmental schemes and then allotting them to different areas according to priority, the Chief Minister said that ISBADP was launched in 2012 to bridge the critical gaps in development along the inter-state border areas because the difficulties faced by people in these areas were similar to those in the intertiol borders. “It is a State programme which is not found in any other states across the country”, Dr Sangma said. Reiterating on the need to have trained teachers to impart quality education, Dr. Sangma spoke of his Government’s initiative to open more teacher training schools and to give a scholarship of Rs.5000 so that the youths who aspire to become teachers can avail the benefit. He also informed the gathering that community colleges would be set up across the State which would be maged by communities themselves and which would not be confined to only the State capital or district headquarters.

The Chief Minister also spelt out a number of developmental projects coming up across the State as well as in the area, including the tiol highway projects being funded by JICA.

Stating that IMR & MMR rate was highest in the region, he said that more maternity & child hospitals would be established in the State and one of them would be located between Garobadha and Mukdangra.

Referring to the memorandum submitted by the Mukdangra SMC, he assured the gathering that the approach road from the main highway to the school and beyond would be sanctioned in March this year and that additiol fund for extension of the school building would also be sanctioned soon.