Lucknow, May 3 (IANS) The first Atal Residential School in Lucknow is all set to begin classes from July this year.
Spread across 17 acres and equipped with all essential facilities, the Lucknow-based school has been constructed in Sithorikala (Mohanlalganj block) at a cost of Rs 70 crore.
It will operate classes from 6th to 12th. The admission form for Class 6 has been made available now and the last date of its submission is May 27, according to a government spokesman.
Selection of students will be done through an entrance test to be held on June 11.
Principal Sukhvir Singh said, "The school will start in July with its Class 6 batch wherein 40 boys and 40 girls will be given admission. Children whose parents have e-shramik cards (for at least three years) and are registered with Uttar Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board (UPBOCW), are eligible for admissions to the school. Also, children who lost either or both their parents due to Covid are also eligible. The child must have born between May 1, 2010 and April 30, 2013 to be eligible for admission to Class 6."
Constructed as part of the dream project of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, the school would provide free education from Classes 6 to 12 along with full residential facilities to kids from financially poor backgrounds from 2023-24 academic session.
The spokesman said, "We will work on the lines of Navodyaya Vidyalaya and follow the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) curriculum. We have 11 sanctioned teaching posts. Interviews of the teachers have been done, and appointment letters will be issued soon."
He further said, "The school will have academic blocks, separate hostels for boys and girls, mess, teachers' quarters and principal residence."
Meanwhile, divisional commissioner Roshan Jacob said that the offline application form will be given free of cost. Jacob instructed officers to ensure that the selection of children in the Atal Residential School is done in the most transparent manner. She added that the basic objective of this scheme is to develop the intellectual, physical development and overall personality of the registered labourers' children, orphans and destitute children working in the building and other construction processes, and bring them to the mainstream of the society.
In 2019, chief minister Yogi Adityanath had announced the establishment of the residential schools in the state. Named after former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, such schools are being set up in all 18 divisional headquarters of the state in the first phase.
These schools are expected to start functioning from July 2023, said officials. The principal added that along with free education and lodging, these children will also get free school dress, books, and school bags.
--IANS
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