Jammu- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said the ‘New Bharat’ was spending more to provide modern education to students and asserted that education and skill development have been the main focus of his government over the past 10 years.
“Till 10 years ago, it was very difficult to think of spending huge amounts of money in the field of education and skill development. This is New Bharat and New Bharat spends more and more to provide modern education to the present generation,” Modi said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the campuses of three Indian Institutes of Management, in Jammu, Bodh Gaya and Visakhapatnam, on Tuesday and laid the foundation stone of several projects worth Rs 13,375 crore, including permanent campuses for three IITs, 20 Kendriya Vidyalayas and 13 Navodaya schools.
The prime minister dedicated, inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of the campuses and buildings at a public function at the Maulana Azad Stadium in Jammu.
“The advancement of education and skill development sectors on such a scale was a distant reality 10 years ago. But this is the new India…. The government of the day indulges in maximum expenditure for modern education of the present and future generations,” he said on the occasion.
“In the last 10 years, the country has witnessed a record number of schools, colleges and universities, including 50 new degree colleges in Jammu and Kashmir. As many as 45,000 children, who did not attend schools, have now been admitted to schools and girl students need not travel far for education. There was a time when schools were run while today, schools are enhanced,” Modi added.
The projects that were dedicated to the nation include permanent campuses for the Indian Institute of Technology-Bhilai, IIT-Tirupati, IIT-Jammu, IIITDM-Kancheepuram, Indian Institute of Skills (IIS) — a pioneering skill-training institute on advanced technologies — in Kanpur and two campuses for the Central Sanskrit University in Uttarakhand’s Devprayag and Agartala, Tripura.
Modi also inaugurated 20 new buildings for Kendriya Vidyalayas (KV) and 13 new Navodaya Vidyalaya (NV) buildings across the country. The prime minister will also lay the foundation stone of five KV campuses, one NV campus and five multi-purpose halls for NVs across the country.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan attended the event virtually from the PM-SHRI Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya at Goshala in Odisha’s Sambalpur.
For Bihar, the prime minister inaugurated 24 new academic and residential buildings of the IIT-Patna, constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 466 crore. The facilities include a central library, an auditorium, a central lecture hall and academic buildings, a students’ activity centre, hostels and residential quarters for teachers and employees.
The IIT-Patna campus was inaugurated by Modi on July 25, 2015.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Deputy Chief Ministers Samrat Chaudhary and Vijay Kumar Sinha, besides several other ministers, virtually attended the function from the Bihar Assembly.
Modi also inaugurated the newly-constructed permanent campus of the IIM-Bodh Gaya.
Established in 2015, the institute was functioning from a makeshift campus.
The full-fledged new campus has been developed in an area spanning more than 60,000 square metres at an estimated cost of over Rs 400 crore.
The prime minister also inaugurated the IIT-Bhilai and two newly-constructed KV buildings in Chhattisgarh.
At present, the IIT-Bhilai has a strength of 1,250 students and in the next three-four years, its capacity will be increased to accommodate nearly 2,500 students, an official said, after Modi dedicated the institute and two KVs to the nation via video-conferencing from Jammu.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Vishnu Deo Sai, Durg MP Vijay Baghel, Chairman of the IIT-Bhilai’s board of governors K Venkatraman and the institute’s director, Professor Rajiv Prakash, were present at the inaugural ceremony on the campus.
The prime minister also inaugurated the Academic Complex East and Academic Complex West at IIT-Delhi. Union Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi attended the event in the national capital.
The two multi-storey complexes have been developed at a cost of Rs 260 crore, with a plinth area of more than 60,000 square metres, and have come up as an addition to the existing academic area on the campus.
“The establishment of premier educational institutions, such as the IIM-Jammu, exemplifies a transformative approach, bringing quality education closer to home and empowering the youngsters of Jammu and Kashmir on a national scale,” Modi said.
He said that earlier, the youths of Jammu and Kashmir had to go outside for higher education and professional courses but now the Union Territory “is becoming a hub of education and skill development with the establishment of various educational institutes like IITs and IIMs as per promise.”
“The mission of modernising the education sector is expanding further,” Modi said and referred to the inauguration of various IITs, IIMs, academic blocks, hostels, libraries, auditoriums and many such facilities across the country.
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