The state government of Assam has announced plans to improve facilities in 1,000 government schools and transform them into “new-age” schools in an ambitious move to overhaul infrastructure.
Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister, announced the decision on Sunday after inspecting facilities at five schools in Guwahati, including one where he previously studied.
“Government schools in Assam started as small buildings with additional classrooms added in separate blocks over years, which took up open spaces. Our objective would be to put all classrooms in one building and keep the rest of the area for playgrounds and other activities,” Sarma said.
Sonaram Higher Secondary School, Cotton Collegiate Government Higher Secondary School, Kamrup Academy, Tarini Choudhury Government Girls Higher Secondary and Middle Primary School, and Gopal Boro Government Higher Secondary School were all visited by the Chief Minister.
Sarma attended Kamrup Academy, which was founded in 1930. Following an inspection of his alma mater, the CM stated that the school building will be reconstructed and a new auditorium will be built soon.
“We want to transform our government schools into new-age institutions. For those schools which are over 100 years old and want to preserve the buildings, we will help them,” he said.
Sarma stated that the state government will reconstruct buildings and install playgrounds in 1,000 schools over the next few years, with a budget of 5,000 crores. Guwahati will have ten such schools.
In the coming weeks, the chief minister is also expected to inspect five more schools in the city.
In addition to renovating existing schools, the government intends to build 4,500 new ones in the coming years to match the facilities provided by private institutions.