School section opens hours after PM announces it

All it needed to start a higher secondary section at a Kendriya Vidya-laya in faraway Uri town in Jammu and Kashmir was an announcement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Within two hours of Modi's announcement, the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry had swung into action and declared higher secondary sections of the school opened. It also initiated formalities for admission of students from the current academic session itself! The school's expansion was done in record time on Thursday. 

Modi, who was on a visit to Uri in the Baramullah district of Jammu and Kashmir, took an impromptu decision and announced the opening of classes XI and XII at Kendriya Vidyalaya from July, following a demand from local residents. Modi also inaugurated a 240-MW power project at Uri.

To fulfil the prime minister's promise, his officials immediately got in touch with the HRD Ministry. 

HRD Minister Smriti Irani, who was in Kolkata then to meet West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, acted swiftly, directing her ministry's officials to ensure that the school's higher secondary section starts from the current academic year itself. 

“It took barely two hours for the officials of the Ministry and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan in Delhi to complete the formalities and open the higher secondary section of the school,” official sources told Deccan Herald.

Set up in 1998, the Kendriya Vidyalaya in Uri had so far been running classes only till class X. This compelled higher secondary students from the town, 18 km from the Line of Control, to undertake an almost-three-hour-long journey to attend classes at schools in Srinagar.

“The prime minister’s expeditious and instant resolution of a long-standing problem brought great relief to the students as well as their parents. It was immensely appreciated,” said a government official.