Badal calls for NRI contributions in education, health

Sanghol, Fatehgarh Sahib, Nov 19 (UNI) Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today called upon the NRIs to play a proactive role by making investment in the crucial sectors of education, health care and civic amenities to bridge the gap between the rural-urban divide in the state.

Delivering his keynote address at the Sanghol Educational Complex after laying the foundation of the Uma Rana Public School here, Mr Badal said that the NRIs could initiate and fund the development projects and schemes in their villages and the state government would contribute a matching grant of equal amount. He also impressed upon the NRIs to adopt one government school each in the vicinity of their native villages to impart quality education to the deprived students so as to enable them to compete with the public and convent educated students.

The Chief Minister said the SAD-BJP Government was committed to revamp the existing educational system in the state to provide quality education to the students through the newly developed concept of 'Adarsh Schools' in the state. He solicited the participation of NRIs to adopt these schools.

He however assured the NRIs that the state government would contribute 70 per cent of the total project cost on the building and the staff of the school and the remaining would be borne by the NRIs.

Emphasising the role of the quality education in shaping the destiny of any nation, Mr Badal squarely held the previous state government for the constant deterioration in the educational system.

He said that concerted efforts have to be made to revamp the entire system keeping in view the emerging trends across the globe.

Underscoring the need to revolutionise the educational scenario in the state, he pointed out that conventional education would not help the youth alone in securing better job prospects because vocationalisation of the education was the need of the hour.

Appreciating England based NRI, Lord Daljit Rana's for setting up the Sanghol Educational Complex, Mr Badal pointed out that such institutions of national repute should act as 'role models' to benefit the under privileged and economically poor students especially those hailing from rural areas.

Responding to the demands put forth by Lord Rana, the Chief Minister agreed to the proposal to set up a university at Sanghol, which was a Buddhist centre of learning and civilization for almost 3000 years. He also announced a grant of Rs 10 lakh for the local panchayat for the execution of various on going works.

Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice Vijender Jain who presided over the function called for bringing awareness amongst the people of Punjab for eradicating the menace of female foeticide and drug addiction. Justice Jain called for social emergency to tackle these issues as the judiciary or the law enmforcing agencies alone could not check these social evils without an active participation of the people In his welcome address, Lord Rana complimented Mr Badal for his visionary approach towards the upliftment of the rural sector.

UNI