A project with focus on health, nutrition and education among the school children of 32 village panchayats and poor children of a slum colony was launched in Rajasthan’s Bharatpur district on Wednesday. The project, supported by a United Kingdom-based group, will help the children join the mainstream of society.
Bharatpur Collector Nathmal Didel, who inaugurated the project at the Gokul Nagar slum colony in the city, laid emphasis on the steps for development of the localities inhabited by underprivileged people to ensure their socio-economic growth. “Health, hygiene, nutrition and education are important elements for children’s welfare,” he said.
Vidya Jyoti India, functioning from Greenford in U.K.’s Middlesex county, has identified 2,500 children studying in government schools in Bharatpur’s Sewar block, who belong to poor families, for assistance in various sectors. The children of I to VIII classes will get the help through food, books and basic necessities.
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Nutritious food twice a day
As part of a “feeding hungry children” campaign, Vidya Jyoti India has joined hands with Bharatpur’s Lupin Foundation to provide nutritious food twice a day to about 1,800 children in Gokul Nagar. The group, founded by consultant psychiatrist Pamela Kaushal, started working in the region last month by employing women from poor families to prepare meals and feed the children.
During a survey undertaken in the villages and slum areas, the selected children were tested for ascertaining their ability levels. Lupin Foundation’s regional programme manager Rajesh Sharma said 11 slum colonies had been identified for the project.
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Mr. Sharma said the remedial classes would be started shortly for students to build up their skills in mathematics, science and English, for which 75 teachers were being trained through an online programme.
While the children will be grouped for appropriate classes, the surveyors were also identifying differently abled persons and those with intellectual disabilities. A disability day care centre for poor persons will also be established in the slum area.
Among others, District Education Officer Prem Singh Kuntal, Deputy Director (Social Justice & Empowerment) Praful Choubisa and Additional Collector Rajesh Goyal were present.