KOCHI: Former Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on Friday launched five schemes aimed to bolster the efforts of model tourism village Kumbalangi near here to make it a clean, green and healthy one.
The projects, brainchild of Ernakulam MP Prof K.V. Thomas, would benefit all people in the village one way or another.
Of these, the nutritious mid-day meal scheme for primary students would be implemented in 110 schools, covering 30,000 students in the village at a cost of Rs 1 crore.
While the state government bore 50% of the cost, the remaining was collected through contributions from companies in the public and private sectors.
Cheques for the amounts were distributed to all schools during the inaugural function itself. In his address, Dr Singh expressed happiness on the decision of the people in the village to take a pledge to make it free of alcohol and narcotics and also to maintain utmost cleanness and zero use of plastics.
Dr Singh also praised the path-breaking initiatives of Prof Thomas in the field of education. “There is no surprise that his mind and soul are in the field of education, his first love, he being an accomplished educationist and a renowned professor.”
The meeting was chaired by local MLA Dominic Presentation. Ministers K.Babu and V.K. Ebrahim Kunju, Hibi Eden, MLA, Kochi Bishop Rt. Rev. Dr. Joseph Kariyil, National Human Rights Commission member Justice Cyriac Joseph and panchayat president Susan Joseph spoke on the occasion.
Meanwhile Manmohan praises Mundassery’s role in education sector
Prof Joseph Mundassery, education minister in the first communist ministry in the State and, came in for some handsome praise from former prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh here on Friday, at a meeting organised by local MP Prof K.V.Thomas.
Singling out the efforts of the former education minister in turning the State into a complete literate one, Dr Singh said: “The State had put in place a unique institution called the Government-aided school, an original version of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) under the visionary leadership of the late Prof Mundassery, which paid rich dividends by making every Malayali literate.”
