School should not be a marksheet distribution centre only, but a centre for making children good citizens, said school education minister Brijmohan Agrawal, while addressing a function organized for the distribution of ad hoc grant and reimbursement of amount to private schools at Salem English School auditorium on Tuesday.
The minister gave away a total of Rs 5 crore to 301private schools in 8 education districts. Out of the total amount, Rs 1.56 crore has been given as ad hoc grant for infrastructure development of schools and Rs 1.42 crore as reimbursement of education fees of poor children under the Right to Education Act to 144 private schools in Raipur district.
At the programme, ad hoc grant amount has been given to 21 schools in Durg, 25 schools in Rajnandgaon, 17 schools in Balod, 12 schools in Bemethra, 144 schools in Raipur, 15 schools in Gariaband, 21 schools in Mahasamund and 46 schools in Balodabazar districts.
The school education minister also released ‘Prerana Pushp’, the yearly magazine of government district library of Raipur for the year 2013, at the function. Addressing the function, Agrawal said that the state government has been trying to provide facilities to private schools on a par with government schools.
He said that free books have been made available to the students up to 10th standard in private schools and now distribution of cycles to the girl students studying in class IX in private schools has been started. Schools should earnestly groom the talents of children and make them prepare for future life. Praising the educational achievements of the students of Saraswati Shishu Mandirs, Agrawal said that children of these schools figure in the merit list than others.