Speaking at Paroli, Farod and Lalpuri villages deep inside the forests in the Goghambha taluka of Panchmahals district on the concluding day of the three-day annual Shala Praveshotsav, he said the schools should also encourage yoga, sports and games like chess, and inculcate the habit of reading among young minds.
And, of course, it being the inaugural day, 107 children were given treat like never before, showered with sweets and chocolates, besides colourful bags, textbooks, notebooks, pencil and uniform. Another 29 tiny toddlers admitted to pre-school 'anganwadis' were presented toys.
However, he regretted that precious little was done in the past in this direction. The Paroli school is 145-year-old, but 55 per cent of women in the village were still illiterate.
The Chief Minister also presented books as prizes to children who topped in the Standard III to VI examinations. He inspected the nearby anganwadis and mid-day meal centres.
As per the information available for the first two days of the special drive 347,416 students were enrolled in Standard-I and 4,044 in 'anganwdis'. People donated over Rs.2.83-crore in cash and kind to schools. Rajgarh legislator Fatehsinh Chauhan today gave a cheque of Rs.11,151 to Kanya Kelavni Fund.
