After the disastrous floods in Srinagar last year, The Freemasons of the Northern Region of India, in association with The Grand Lodge of India have refurbished the fully damaged Government High School in Chatabal.
With the help of these civil society organizations, the school girls have got new school uniforms, bags, books and infrastructure. Students of the school are ecstatic on being able to attend school again, which according to them is much better than before and thanked the authorities for providing them with all the infrastructure.
“I feel really good that my school has reopened. It was badly destroyed in the floods; all the infrastructure, furniture was badly damaged. Many NGOs and authorities came to our school to help us to renovate the school. The school today is better than what it was before,” said Mansha, a student.
“They provided us with bags, furniture, blankets, sweaters. We are very thankful to them because they gave us a good school to study in and make our future. Now whenever we come to school we feel really good. The damage we saw after the flood last year was unbearable. Now everything is pleasant again and I am glad that they helped us to further our education,” she added.
Another student, Bisma also expressed her appreciation towards the organizations for rebuilding the school.
Member of Grand Lodge of India G.D. Rao said that they had built state of the art computer laboratory, science laboratory and a library for the students and assured that their organization would have permanent alliance with this school for its continuous rehabilitation and renovation.
“We reach wherever there is a calamity. When we met the chief secretary, they allotted us this school. We have permanently taken up this school for rehabilitation and renovation. We will give two of the best students a scholarship. We have made a science laboratory, computer laboratory and library for this school. Our aim is to serve the society,” Rao said.
Vasudev Masurekar, the head of Grand Lodge of India pointed out that their aim was to have a lingering and enduring relationship with the school which is why they focused on providing education rather than just carry out relief operations like providing utilities.
“We find that anytime a natural calamity or disaster takes place, immediately certain relief measures are undertaken and lots of supplies from different sources arrive. There are many articles to give but that sometimes becomes a problem to manage the bunch of utility items that come here. So, we thought let us leave something that will be enduring and our focus is on education: a primary and secondary education. And we found that there are educational institutions here which have been damaged and destroyed. So, we gave our priority to girls’ education. We requested the authorities that we would be happy if you gave us a girl’s high school,” Masurekar said.
Masurekar’s organization began the refurbishment project in October last year and aimed to complete it within six months. He too, like his colleague G.D. Rao, insisted that their tie up with the school was a long-term one.
“We believe it is always better to focus and not do too many things. We apply our own money here and do not get funding from outside. We find this is real happiness. I am delighted it culminated into what we dreamt of,” he added.
The head of Freemasons of the Northern Region of India expressed delighted at adopting the school for its renovation and appreciated the staff for their cooperation.
“We try to give quality to the society. When we found out about Srinagar, we were the first ones to come and meet the chief secretary. We felt really nice after adopting this school. The staff and people here are very cooperative and the kind of support that we have got while doing charity is wonderful,” he said.
“We will keep providing better infrastructure to Kashmir. Till the time we are here, we have permanently adopted this school. Apart from this, even in Kathmandu we have supplied five trucks of ration on April 27. Even during Uttrakhand floods, we adopted two schools,” he added. (ANI)