J-K: Seerat Naaz, viral girl from Kathua, aspires to be an IAS officer

KATHUA: Little Seerat Naaz, the girl from the remote Lohai-Malhar village of Jammu's Kathua district who, in a viral video, flagged the sorry state of her school and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct urgent repairs, aspires to be an IAS officer.

Speaking to ANI, little Seerat said she wishes that the administration does the needful in bringing the necessary infrastructure upgrade to the government high school she studies in.

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.

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.

An ANI team visited the school, which lies 180 kms from the Kathua district headquarters. Speaking to ANI, the girl, yet again, 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 told ANI.

Seerat's mother, Bhavna Naaz, told ANI that the school has little apart from a decrepit building. "I have two daughters. My husband works as a labourer in Himachal Pradesh. This area only has a solitary school and children from far-off hilly areas come here, covering several miles on foot, in the quest of receiving an education. Compared to most urban schools, this one has nothing but a building, which, too, is in a sorry state. It doesn't have benches for students to sit on.

At a time when the government is talking about a 'Digital India', I believe the schools, even in the remotest corners of the country, need to be equipped in line with this vision," she said. The Director of School Education, Jammu, Ravi Krishan Sharma also visited the school to assess the situation on the ground.

Speaking to ANI after his visit, Sharma said, "The administration is working for the upliftment of education infrastructure in Jammu and Kashmir. Funds totalling Rs 1 crore have already been sanctioned for the construction of additional classrooms at the school. This school building could not be completed due to some technical issues raised by the contractor and work stopped midway while the dispute was being resolved. Now, we have decided to finish the remaining work by issuing a new tender."

The matter came to light after Seerat Naaz, in her video, voiced an adorable wish to Prime Minister Narendra Modi -- "Please Modi-ji, ek achhi si school banwa do na (Please Modi-ji, build a nice school for us)".

"Modi-ji, aap poore desh ki sunte ho. Meri bhi sun lo aur achha sa humara yeh school banwa do. Bilkul sundar sa school bana do taaki humein niche na baithna padhe. Taaki Mamma na mare. Taaki achhe se padhai karein. Humara school please achhe se banwa do (Modi-ji, you listen to all the countrymen. Please listen to me too and build us a good school. The school should be such that we don't have to sit on the floor. So that my mother doesn't scold or cane me. So that we could all study well. Please have a nice school constructed for us)," she further says in the video.