As many as 248 free bicycles were given to students of Holy Cross Girls Higher Secondary School here on Thursday.
Minister for Information and Publicity, Kadambur C. Raju gave away the bicycles to the students. He said that a total of 18,604 free bicycles were earmarked for provision during current fiscal year 2016-17 and Plus One students from 136 schools including 53 government schools and 83 aided schools in various parts of the district would benefit from this drive. Over the last five years, as many as 78,705 bicycles were distributed to Plus One students, including 36,313 boys and 41,392 girls in the district.
He added that among other districts, Thoothukudi ranked top in the State in terms of taking forward the welfare schemes to beneficiaries.
“The State government is according priority to offer quality education with allocation of more funds to the Department of Education. Since the government was concerned about the welfare of students, fourteen varieties of freebies, including free education, bicycles, laptops, text books, bus pass and uniform sets to prevent any student from dropping out was being offered,” the Minister pointed out.
Commissioner of Thoothukudi Corporation, K. Rajamani, Sub Collector of Thoothukudi, Deepak Jacob, Project Director of District Rural Development Agency, Pitchaiah, Chief Educational Officer M. Ramakrishnan, District Educational Officer P. Chendurkani, District Elementary Educational Officer Soundiranayaki, Correspondent of School, Sr. Delma, Head Mistress Sr. Jaculine Mary and others were present.
