PROJECT ALANKAR: Government-aided Sanskrit schools set for a revamp, ₹13.65 crore released

Government-aided Sanskrit secondary schools in Uttar Pradesh that are over 50 years old are all set to get a major revamp from state government support. For the first time, under Project Alankar— a state government programme that aims to modernise and revitalise secondary schools—funding has been released for the proposed renovations of these Sanskrit schools.

In a letter issued on August 31 by the Deputy Secretary (Sanskrit education) Sanjay Kumar, ₹13.65 crore has been approved for 130 Sanskrit secondary schools spread across the state, informed officials of the state secondary education department.

A key aspect of this initiative is that the state government will cover 95% of the renovation cost, while the remaining 5% will be incurred by the respective school management under this initiative, they added.

Earlier, the state government required school managements to bear 50% of the renovation costs, which led to their withdrawal from the initiative. As a result, the funds worth ₹28 crore allocated for this purpose in 2021 went unused and lapsed.

The state government then decided to relax the norms. Officials of the state Secondary Education Department then made a provision of taking only 5% of the total proposed expenditure on renovation from the management committees of the respective schools by changing the conditions.

A budget of ₹100 crores was also allocated for renovation then.

“Budget has been approved under Project Alankar for renovation of Sanskrit secondary schools of the state for the first time. As the infrastructure facilities in schools increase, the students too would get encouraged to enrol in these institutions,” said Pawan Kumar Srivastava, Inspector, Sanskrit Schools, UP confirming the move.

Out of 958 Sanskrit schools from class 6 to 12 in the state, priority is being given to those schools having more than 100 students studying in them under this initiative, officials shared.

The missive dated August 31, a copy of which is with HT, makes plain that 130 Sanskrit secondary schools of the state for which the budget has been released under Project Alankar this time include 24 schools of Pratapgarh district and 10 schools of Kaushambi district. Apart from this, 14 schools of Basti and 20 schools of Gorakhpur have also been included in the list of selected schools.