Lucknow to get two more top institutes
Fast emerging as the education hub of northern India, the state capital is all set to add two more prestigious educational institutions in its long list of temples of learning. A centrally acclaimed university, the Hyderabadbased English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), and a unique literacy initiative by the wives of civil servants — the Sanskriti School — will soon mark their footprints in the city.
Fast emerging as the education hub of northern India, the state capital is all set to add two more prestigious educational institutions in its long list of temples of learning.
A centrally acclaimed university, the Hyderabad based English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), and a unique literacy initiative by the wives of civil servants — the Sanskriti School — will soon mark their footprints in the city.
While the state government has already allotted 10 acres of land for the proposed Rs. 100 crore Sanskriti School project, hunt is on for providing 40 acres to EFLU.
“Chief minister Akhilesh Yadav will lay the foundation stone of the Sanskriti School project in CG City on February 13 along with the new Civil Services Institute campus,” said a housing department official.
“Till a decade ago, there were only a handful of universities all over the state. Today, Lucknow alone has over a dozen universities — some of which compete with the best in the country,” said a senior officer of the higher education department, requesting anonymity.
This would be the second branch of Sanskriti School in the country, which was established in New Delhi by Civil Services Society in 1998, according to the official. “The wives of top civil servants — cabinet secretary at the Centre and chief secretary in the state — act as the chairpersons of this society,” he said. The school caters to marginalised sections of the society and earmarks around 25% seats for students from economically weaker sections.
What started off as Lucknow Campus of the Central Institute of English (CIE) in 1979 in a small section of Moti Mahal on Shahnajaf Road, would soon take the shape of a full-fledged university. The CIE was originally set up in Hyderabad in 1958 and the Lucknow campus is its only centre in entire Northern India. “The EFLU is one-of-its-kind institution, which got the status of a Central University only eight years ago. It’s vice chancellor, Professor Sunaina Singh, wrote to chief secretary Alok Ranjan seeking around 60-acre land for establishing the university,” the official said. Commissioner, Lucknow division, Mahesh Gupta has been directed by the chief secretary to provide 40-acres land for the university.
Notably, Lucknow is home to several institutes of repute offering streams as diverse as management, law, music, languages and rehabilitation of the differently-abled as well as underprivileged children.
