Rs 100 cr World Bank aid for Uttaranchal

To improve the quality of technical education in Uttaranchal, the state government has signed an agreement with the World Bank, involving an investment of about Rs 100 crore over the next five years.

The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed yesterday by additional chief secretary of Uttaranchal M Ramachandran with the World Bank country director, Michael F Carter.

The project would be implemented under the World Bank-funded "technical education quality improvement programme," Ramachandran said.

The objective of the programme includes promotion of academic excellence through faculty development, modernisation and upgradation of laboratories and libraries, curriculum improvement and networking of institutions.

After signing of the project agreement, individual MoUs would be signed with respective institutions for effective implementation and monitoring of the programmes, he said. All the participating institutions were preparing detailed project reports, Ramachandran said.

"States have been selected for the programme by the World Bank based on their eligibility and preparedness," said Ramachandran.

"The basic infrastructure has been created at five select institutions and the state government has sanctioned Rs 75 lakh during 2003-04 for the programme," he added.