100-bed girls hostel in JandK's Anantnag to bridge education gap

Giving a boost to education for girls, a 100-bed girls hostel is coming up in Bantooru village in Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir.

The upcoming hostel will be handed over to the Union Territory government in next two months as almost 90% of construction has been completed.

Roads and Bridges (RandB) department of Kashmir is executing the construction work under the centrally sponsored scheme 'Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan' (RMSA).

The total cost of the project is around Rs 2.70 crore.

Centre had announced some years back the construction of 44 girl hostels in educationally backward blocks (EBBs) to facilitate stay of girl students of secondary and higher secondary schools in rural areas of Kashmir.

The main objective of the scheme is to retain girl child in secondary schools so that they don't lose the opportunity to continue their studies due to distance to schools, financial constraints or other societal factors.

The residents of Bantooru village hailed the step to ensure greater accessibility of education to girl child, and will also help in boosting economic development in the area.