Kathmandu, Feb. 14: School buildings of Shree Bhadrakali Secondary School, Pokhara, Kaski District, built with Government of India’s financial assistance of NRs. 20.94 million under ‘Nepal-India Development Cooperation’ were formally inaugurated today by Dhana Raj Acharya, Mayor, Pokhara Metropolitan City, Kaski and Prasanna Shrivastava, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India, Kathmandu, on the auspicious occasion celebrating 72nd anniversary of the school and Parent’s Day. 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 school buildings and provision of furniture and computers for this school. 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. This project was implemented through the  Pokhara Metropolitan City, Kaski.

Prasanna Shrivastava, Deputy Chief of Mission, Embassy of India, Kathmandu highlighted that the  project is  an important example 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 benefit of the peoples of both countries. 

Shree Bhadrakali Higher Secondary School, a community based school, was established in 1951 as Primary School. The building of the primary school was constructed with Indian financial assistance through Central Co-ordination Board of the Indian Embassy in 1959. The school was later upgraded as Higher Secondary. Since then, this school has achieved remarkable success in providing quality education with improved environment. The school is the first leading school in the region where majority students are from Gorkha ex-servicemen families. The school provides education from Play Group to 12th Standard. The school has over 1800 students, about 55 of whom are girls..  

Since 2003, Government of India has taken up over 550 HICDPs in Nepal in various sectors and has completed 488 projects. Amongst these, 59 Projects are in Gandaki Province in various sectors, which includes 11 projects in Kaski. 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, 115 Ambulances and 25 School Buses have been gifted in Gandaki Province, which includes 20 ambulances and 5 school buses provided in Kaski 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 sector especially in the education sector in Nepal.