Schools in coastal areas to get additional facilities

As many as 55 schools in the coastal areas of Kerala will be provided additional infrastructure worth Rs 54 crore in the next one year, minister for fisheries, ports and excise K Babu announced today.

He was speaking after laying the foundation stone for the new academic block of the Government Vocational Higher Secondary School at Poovar, in Thiruvananthapuram. The construction of the new Rs 1.85-crore academic block is one of the many initiatives of the Kerala State Coastal Area Development Corporation (KSCADC) for the coastal communities in Thiruvananthapuram.

The three-storied 656.9 square meter building includes a chemistry lab, a fisheries craft gear lab and a food processing lab in the first floor and a physics lab, two classrooms and an office.

The school will also get a playground along with the new academic block.

KSCADC has launched this project with the support of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard). The corporation, through the Nabard's rural development projects, has initiated several projects for providing drinking water, roads, health, education facilities, fish landing centers, net mending yards, fisheries stations, drainage facilities and high mast lights to the coastal villages.

Development projects worth Rs 115 crore are being undertaken by the KSCADC in the district. Projects worth Rs 11 crore have been completed and an estimated Rs 84 crore worth projects are in various stages. Projects worth Rs 20 crore are pending approval from the government.

These projects aim at the overall development of coastal areas in the state. At present, KSCADC has initiated projects worth Rs 530 crore in the state.