Over 3,000 Haryana schools to be upgraded under Central project

Presiding over the fourth executive committee of the Haryana Samagra Siksha in Chandigarh on Thursday, the chief secretary said the schools were selected on the basis of their performance in seven domains, as defined by the ministry

Project Approval Board of the Centre has selected 3,893 benchmark schools in the state based on their performance in seven domains to improve the quality of education, infrastructure, and overall well-being of students, said Haryana chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal.

Haryana chief secretary Sanjeev Kaushal (File)

Presiding over the fourth executive committee of the Haryana Samagra Siksha in Chandigarh on Thursday, the chief secretary said the schools were selected on the basis of their performance in seven domains, as defined by the ministry.

In the first phase, 124 senior secondary schools were chosen as PM SHRI schools following a selection process involving school-level selection committees, district level verification committees, and state-level committees. He said Model Sanskriti schools were not considered for selection to help these schools transform and a budget of ₹8,526.76 lakh has been approved for 124 PM SHRI schools in Haryana.

He directed the officers to arrange educational trips to renowned institutions such as ISRO, Science City, and other organisations to enrich their scientific knowledge on a national-level and urged the officers to educate students about cybercrimes and financial literacy, equipping them with essential life skills.

The chief secretary said the allowances provided by the government help to support these students in their education. Currently, 21,111 divyang (differently abled) students — 15,683 in pre-primary to Class 8 and 5,428 in Class 9 to 12 — are enrolled in 119 blocks of 22 districts in Haryana, according to UDISE 2021-22 data. A total of 373 special educators — 141 for pre-primary to Class 8 and 232 for Class 9 to 12 — are working for the welfare of divyang students.