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Connect rural kids with modern education, technology: UP governor
Uttar Pradesh Governor Anandiben Patel inaugurated an ICT-enabled classroom in Paharpur and announced 50,000 Atal Tinkering Labs for rural education improvement.
Uttar Pradesh governor Anandiben Patel on Tuesday digitally inaugurated the Information Communication Technology (ICT)-enabled classroom at a primary school in Paharpur village on the city outskirts during the convocation ceremony of Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University.
This was one of the schools in which the university got the ICT-enabled classroom built. “The children studying in villages have immense talent. They can achieve remarkable success in any field if given opportunity and resources. Special workshops should be organised so that rural children can be connected with modern education, technology and innovation,” she said.
The governor also shared that as part of Centre’s 2025-26 budget, 50,000 “Atal Tinkering Labs” will be set up in government schools in the next five years, which will help in improving the education of children.
Besides, under the BharatNet project, broadband connectivity will reach every village. “As many as five national centres of excellence will be established for skill development and a provision of ₹500 crore has been made for the centre of excellence in AI,” Patel said.
The governor, who is also chancellor of state universities, awarded 55,634 degrees and 88 medals to the students at the convocation. The chancellor’s medal was conferred on Naincy Purwar, a student of computer science and engineering (artificial intelligence and machine learning) at Pranveer Singh Institute of Technology, Kanpur, along with a prize money of ₹31,000 while the Kamal Rani Varun Gold Medal was awarded to Unnati Gaur, a student of electronics and communication engineering at RD Engineering College, Ghaziabad.
She also awarded “Academic Excellence Award” to three teachers—Arun Tiwari (IET, Lucknow), Anuj Sharma (CAS, Lucknow) and Harishchandra Upadhyay (Regional Engineering College, Sonbhadra). The governor distributed kits to Anganwadi workers and awarded winners of various competitions organised by university as part of its convocation week.
Speaking on the occasion, technical education minister Ashish Patel said: “The PM is promoting various types of start-ups for the creation of a self-reliant India and self-employment opportunities are being provided to the youth through many schemes. A new AI university will be established through AKTU, Lucknow, which will work on research related to artificial intelligence.”
