NRI donates laptops, sport goods to govt school kids

Avneet Kaur

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Nawanshahr, October 4

Acknowledging the efforts being made by the School Education Department for the welfare of government school students by converting the schools in the state into ‘Self Made Smart School’, an NRI Amarjit Khela on Friday donated laptops, sport goods, stationery items and chocolates worth Rs 3 lakh to Government Middle and Primary School, Sajawalpur, during the morning assembly.

Currently settled in Australia as an entrepreneur and educationist, Amarjit, who visited the village to attend some family function, said it was not his idea to make donation at the school, rather he was inspired by his son and daughter, niece and nephew. Instead of packaging their own luggage, they decided to take laptops, stationery items, sport goods, including football, basketball, badminton, etc, for schoolchildren.

Talking to this correspondent, Amarjit said his father as well as grandfather had served as government teachers at Sajawalpur village and had been part of every government event or school functions. “My parents always narrated the stories of me and my brother’s childhood to our kids and inspired by them the children at our home convinced us to donate electronic gadgets to the school,” Amarjit said.

“I studied till class IV in this government school, after that I shifted to other village. I did my graduation from DAV College, Jalandhar and in the year 1998, I moved Australia for further studies”, Khela said while adding that though he is living in Australia, but his heart lies in his native village.

“I always dreamt of doing something for the village and want to give back to the place from where I had learned the values of life,” Amarjit added.

He further said there were many fields in which active support of NRIs could transform the destiny of residents of their motherland. “Though it is the first responsibility of the state government to ensure development in government schools, the Punjabi diaspora abroad should also perform such deeds so that the same environment and exposure as in private schools is made available for the students of government schools.”

Lauding the efforts of the Khela family, Parmanand, head teacher at school, said NRIs had always played an important role in the socio-economic development of the state, besides ensuring the well-being of people, especially younger generation who are the future of Punjab.

He said this was a huge contribution which would enable the school to ensure the overall personality development of children. He said the Khela family had for long been aiding schools and contributing towards the development of the village. “Earlier, the family donated Rs 5.65 lakh for the school building,” he added.