LUMDUNG: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu on Saturday inaugurated the newly created administrative block, academic block, activity block and ‘Jambey Tashi’ science laboratory of the Ramakrishna Mission School (RKMS) here in East Kameng district.
He had laid the foundation stone of the infrastructure on October 9, 2018.
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Present on the occasion were, among others, Lumdung RKMS secretary Swami Sarvagananda, union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju, local legislator and cabinet minister Mama Natung, education minister Taba Tedir, several MLAs, and chief secretary Dharmendra.
Khandu lauded ‘the exceptional quality of the buildings’ and credited Swami Sarvagananda ‘for personally monitoring the execution of the infrastructure’.
“The central sector (of the state) got the first RKMS in Aalo in 1966, and the eastern sector got an RKMS in Narottam Nagar in 1972. The dream of the people of the western sector to have their own share of a quality institution like RKMS has been now fulfilled,” he said.
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He expressed gratitude to the people of Lumdung for donating land for the establishment of the school and giving the school authorities a free hand in creation of the school infrastructure.
“We (the people of western Arunachal) lost out on getting quality RKM education. But we need to provide this opportunity to the next generation,” he said.
Khandu informed that, since 2018, the government has spent Rs 36.75 crore for establishing and developing the RKMS here.
“We will be developing this school up to the higher secondary level, for which the government will provide sufficient funds. In this year’s budget, we have allocated Rs 29.3 crore for the school as grant-in-aid,” he informed.
Acknowledging the role of the RKMS’ in providing quality education to the youths of the state, Khandu said that “this year, Rs 7 crore grant-in-aid has been allocated for the school in Narottam Nagar.”
“I had assured construction of a golden jubilee hall at the RKMS Narottam Nagar, worth Rs 10 crore. This year, we have sanctioned Rs 5 crore for the same. Another Rs 6 crore has also been sanctioned for the construction of a boys’ hostel in the school. And for RKM Aalo, Rs 2 crore for improving the internal roads and Rs 5 crore for construction of new staff quarters have been sanctioned,” he informed.
In line with the education system in RKMS’ and Vivekananda Kendra Vidyalayas, the CM said that “the state government has started dovetailing contemporary education with cultural learning through gurukul-type institutions.”
He said that “enough provisions are being kept in the budget for supporting such institutions, with the first one established in Rang village near Seppa in East Kameng. A similar gurukul has also been established in Lower Subansiri district and in Basar in Leparada district, while more are in the pipeline in Pasighat and in Tirap,” he informed.
Khandu reiterated the state government’s commitment to overhaul the education scenario of the state.
“Earlier, we had less number of schools but the quality of education was exceptional. As time passed, we started establishing schools randomly, may be due to political compulsions. Till last year, we had at least 3,000 government schools across the state. On closer inspection, we found that several were defunct and several had zero enrolment. We were forced to close down about 700 schools till date.
“Today, we are concentrating on running schools with proper infrastructure and sufficient number of teachers to provide quality education,” he said.
Later, in the evening, the CM, along with Rijiju and others inaugurated the three-day inter-tribe youth festival, ‘Yuva Samanvay’. He also unveiled the statue of Ato Ringso, the great grandfather of the Natung clan, and inaugurated the convention hall named after him.