Kathmandu, Apr. 4: School and Hostel building of Shree Sharada Secondary School, Rawa Besi Rural Municipality, Khotang, built with Government of India’s financial assistance of NRs. 36.10 million under ‘Nepal-India Development Cooperation’ was  inaugurated today jointly by San Bahadur Rai, Chief, District Coordination Committee; Phatik Kumar Shrestha, Chairman, Rawa Besi Rural Municipality, Khotang and Suman Shekhar, First Secretary, Embassy of India, Kathmandu. Public representatives, government officials, social workers, representatives of the school management, teachers, parents and students were also present on this occasion.  

The Government of India grant under ‘Nepal-India Development Cooperation’ was utilized for the construction of a double storied school building, hostel building and procurement of furniture for both buildings.  This project was implemented through the District Coordination Committee, Khotang. The project was taken up as a High Impact Community Development Project (HICDP), earlier known as Small Development Projects, under an agreement between the Government of India and the Government of Nepal. 

Shree Sharada Secondary School was established in 1952. The school is providing education from Class 1 to 10+2 level. There are over 365 students studying in the school, about 50% of whom are girls.      The school has achieved remarkable success in providing quality education. 

Since 2003, Government of India has taken up over 550 HICDPs in Nepal in various sectors and has completed 488 projects. Amongst these, 85 projects are in Koshi Province in various sectors, which includes             1 project in Khotang. In addition to these, Government of India has gifted 974 ambulances and 234 school buses to various hospitals, health posts and educational institutions in Nepal on the occasion of Independence Day and Republic Day of India. Amongst these, 141 Ambulances and 35 School buses have been gifted in Koshi Province, which includes 4 ambulances and 1 school bus provided in Khotang District.  

As close neighbours, India and Nepal share wide-ranging and multi-sectoral cooperation. The implementation of HICDPs reflects the continued support of the Government of India in bolstering the efforts of the Government of Nepal in upliftment of its people, augmenting infrastructure in the field of priority sectors especially in the education sector in Nepal.