Kathmandu, Oct. 11: School building of Shree Mahendra Rastriya Secondary School, Baluwater, Kathmandu, built with Government of India’s financial assistance of NRs.19.20 Million under ‘Nepal-India Development Cooperation was formally handed over and inaugurated jointly by Prasanna Shrivastava, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India and  Santosh Budathoki, Chief, DCC Kathmandu on Wednesday. The political representatives, social workers, officials of Nepal Government, 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 triple storied school building and provision of furniture for the school. The project was taken up as a High Impact Community Development Project under an Agreement between Government of India and Government of Nepal. This project was implemented through District Coordination Committee, Kathmandu.

Prasanna Shrivastava, Deputy Chief of Mission, highlighted that the project is  an important part of the very robust development partnership between India and Nepal, which has made significant progress  in the recent years, spanning various priority sectors of the Government of Nepal and its people. He expressed continued commitment of the Government of India to continue to bolster the development partnership as per the priorities of Government of Nepal, for the benefits of the peoples of both countries.

Mahendra Rastriya Secondary School was established in 1956 as a primary school with the effort of a group of motivated teachers in open ground. The school was recognized by Nepal Government in 1973 as Primary School and upgraded as Lower Secondary in 1995 and was later upgraded to Secondary level in 2000, subsequently the school was upgraded to Higher Secondary School.  The school is having the strength of students over 600, about 50% of whom are girls. Since, its inception, the school have achieved remarkable success in terms of quality education for the local community.

Since 2003, India has taken up over 546 High Impact Community Development Projects in Nepal on various sectors and has completed 483 projects. Amongst these, 105 Projects are in Bagmati Province on various sectors which includes 40 projects in Kathmandu. In addition to these, Government of India has gifted 974 ambulances and 234 school buses to various hospital, health posts and educational institutions in Nepal    on the occasion of Independence Day and Republic Day of India. Amongst these, 69 Ambulances and 52 School Buses provided in Kathmandu, till date.

As close neighbors, India and Nepal share wide-ranging & multi-sectoral cooperation. The implementation of HICDPs projects 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 sector especially in the education sector in Nepal.