Road to freedom begins in classroom for this NRI

Tribune News Service

Ravi Dhaliwal

Gurdaspur, December 4

A school is a building, which has four walls with a tomorrow inside. With this in mind, Australia-based NRI Dr Kuljit Singh Gosal has spent Rs 1.50 crore on the construction of a new block of government middle school in his native village of Narranwal, a stone’s throw away the International Border (IB).

In 2019, he had donated Rs 75 lakh for the school’s primary block.

The new edifice was jointly inaugurated by Cabinet ministers Harpal Cheema and Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal.

Dr Gosal requested the ministers to get the school upgraded to a senior secondary one. “I will pay for the entire infrastructure. You just have to assure me you will get the mandatory clearances for the state government. Educating children should be given priority because the mind once enlightened cannot again become dark,” he said in his speech.

“The road to freedom, here, there and everywhere on earth begins in the classroom. If the basics of our children are rock solid, they can go places. But if the base is soft, the edifice will come down crumbling,” he said.

He said he knew that despite making it big in foreign shores, not many NRIs actually come forward to invest in the field of education. “I do not want to be remembered that way. I want to do something tangible for the future generations of the very village where I was born and brought up,” remarked Dr Gosal.

He works as a property lawyer in Sydney. The deplorable condition of his old school surfaced while he was on a visit in 2019. And that is when he gave Rs 75 lakh for the upkeep of the primary school. His wife, Mandeep Kaur, a teacher in a Sydney prison, supervises all his philanthropic initiatives.

“Investment in school education should be encouraged. The mind of a child is not a vessel to be filled; it is a fire to be kindled. After all, an investment in education can give you the best interest,” said Mandeep Kaur.

Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Aggarwal, was present on the occasion along with senior officers of the district administration. Residents of scores of nearby villages also attended the proceedings.

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