Kashmir's viral girl Seerat Naaz request reaches PM Modi, stalled school work begins

Kathua, April 20: Little Seerat Naaz, the girl from the remote Lohai-Malhar village of Jammu's Kathua district, in a viral video, flagged the poor state of her school and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct urgent repairs. Now, her request has reached PM Modi who directed the school to begin the stalled work.

 

 

Seerat Naz's video appeal to the prime minister last week, which was widely shared on social media, prompted Director of School Education, Jammu, Ravi Shankar Sharma, to visit the government school located in the remote Lohai-Malhar block.

 

Taking note of her request, the J&K administration immediately jumped into action to improve the conditions pf the school. Sharma after visiting the school said, "A project worth Rs 91 lakh was sanctioned to upgrade the school on modern lines, but the work was held up due to some issues related to administrative approval. Now it has been resolved."

 

 

Further, he informed that hundreds of schools are running in remote parts of the union territory and the government has already drawn up a detailed project to ensure proper and modern facilities in all these schools.

 

In the viral video, the girl sought to direct Prime Minister Modi's attention to the poor infrastructure at the school, adding that the students are made to sit on an unclean floor and have to relieve themselves in the open as the toilets have been lying in a state of disrepair.

 

 

She urged PM Modi to take note of her concerns and build her and her fellow colleagues a new school where they would have proper benches to sit on. The school lies 180 kms from the Kathua district headquarters.

 

The girl, yet again talking to media, shed light on the pitiable state of her school. She said that apart from lacking in basic infrastructure and amenities, the school also doesn't have a playground.

 

"Our school is in a bad state and we have to deal with a plethora of problems. So, I took it upon myself to flag our concerns to Modi-ji as he listens to the 'Mann Ki Baat' of one and all. I urged him to listen to our 'Mann ki Baat' as well and get us a school equipped with all necessary amenities," Seerat said.

 

 

Seerat, who studies in the third standard, belongs to a humble household. Her father, the sole breadwinner in the family, works as a daily labourer in Himachal Pradesh. The little one lives with her mother and younger sister, who studies in the second standard at the same school. Nearly 300 students drawn from far-off hilly villages study at the government high school at Lohai.