The Assam government has decided to build 119 model high schools at tea garden areas of the state at a cost of Rs 142.50 crore, state’s Education and Finance minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said on Sunday.
Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal while laying the foundation stone for construction of 119 model high schools at tea garden sectors, at a ceremony here said the tea community is an integral part of the greater Assamese society and it has contributed immensely to the state’s socio-cultural growth.
“Since independence, the previous state governments did not take appropriate steps for the education of the workers and people associated with the tea gardens and tea industry resulting the tea community’s backwardness in social and educational sectors,” the Chief Minister said.
“After coming to power in Assam in 2016, the BJP led government has undertaken steps for equal development of all sections of the society following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s slogan of ‘sabka sath, sabka vikash, sabka viswas’.”
Sonowal has requested the parents and guardians in the tea garden sectors to encourage their kids to avail the schemes and projects launched by the Assam government for the education of the students of the tea community.
He in his speech mentioned the schemes for the development of tea community include mobile medical units in tea gardens, construction of roads in more than 800 tea gardens, Chah Bagicha Dhan Puraskar Mela, Rs 25,000 one time financial assistance to tea community youths for self employment, scholarships to meritorious students, wage compensation to pregnant women and smartphones to tea garden chiefs.
Education and Finance Minister Sarma in a separate function on Sunday laid the foundation stone of the model high schools at Sakomatha and Pratapgarh tea gardens in Biswanath district.
He said that the 119 model high schools would play a pivotal role in improving the educational scenario of the tea community.
“Not a single student from the Assam tea gardens would be deprived of higher education,” Sarma added.An amount of Rs 1.20 crore would incur for constructing each model high school to be build by the state PWD and a total amount of Rs 142.50 crore has been allotted for the project.