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Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari launched the 'Saarthi' scheme for several schools across the state during an event held at Madhusudan Pal Chowdhury School, located under the jurisdiction of the Bentra police station in Howrah.
Under this scheme, bicycles are being provided to students to facilitate their commute to and from school. During the event, the Chief Minister assessed the school's academic and infrastructural facilities. He also inspected the mid-day meal arrangements and sat with the children to share the meal. On this occasion, the Chief Minister emphasised the need to keep students away from mobile phones. He stated that the previous government's practice of providing Rs 11,000 to Class 11 students for purchasing mobile phones is being discontinued in favour of a plan to provide educational tablets instead. He noted that even if this new system incurs an additional cost of Rs 10,000, the priority is to provide tablets for education while keeping children away from mobile phones. The Chief Minister also questioned the previous system regarding the bicycle distribution scheme. He alleged that the bicycles previously provided to students used to come from Ludhiana and were assembled locally. According to the Chief Minister, the previous arrangement associated with this process has been scrapped, and the focus will now be on preventing the wastage of public funds. Meanwhile, the Headmaster of Madhusudan Pal Chowdhury School stated that the event had been pre-scheduled and served as the launchpad for the 'Saarthi' scheme. Bicycles were distributed to students during the program. He mentioned that the school is a historic educational institution and that necessary steps would be taken to develop it further into a model school. Regarding the Chief Minister sharing the mid-day meal with the children, the Headmaster clarified that the food served that day was prepared according to the standard daily menu. The menu included rice, dal, a potato-soybean dish, and chutney. However, the meal had been prepared in a larger quantity than usual. Everyone, including the Chief Minister, sat with the children and enjoyed the meal. (ANI)
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