Rajkot, 25 November, 2011

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today asked the parents and teachers to ensure the primary schools – set up at Vavania village in Rajkot district, bordering Rann of Kutch for the boys and girls of saltpan workers in 1853 and 1932 respectively – are upgraded to match the state’s overall development.

In his surprise visit to these village schools in Maliya-Milyana taluka, Mr. Modi found the two primary schools were in Grade-D, despite being very old. He spent about two hours going deep into the problems of the schools, to personally evaluate the facilities available and the mental level of the students, their interest in extra-curricular activities and current affairs, yearning to learn and computer literacy.

Addressing an impromptu meeting of the teachers and villagers, Mr. Modi asked the parents to take interest in the studies of their wards and ensure the grading of the schools was also improved. He said it was shameful that even after so many years of spending money by the government, schools lacked basic facilities. Many could not write down the names of their fathers. He found that only 24 per cent of women in the village were literate.

Mr. Modi wished the campaigns like Shala Praveshotsav and Kanya Kelavani to encourage school enrolment and girls’ education reach their logical end with cent percent literacy. Children of Patels, Kshatriyas and Muslims study here.

The village holds another importance as being the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi’s spiritual guru Rishi Shrimad Ramchandraji.

The visit was part of the three-day statewide annual campaign to rank over 33,000-odd government primary schools as per different parameters, called Gunotsav-2011 from November 24-26, 2011. During these three-days, the entire council of ministers, elected/representatives, IAS officers and 3,000 other officials fan out to all corners of the state to cover and every primary school in the state. This was his second day of Gunotsav-2011. He was accompanied by local legislator Kantibhai Amritiya.