Jammu, Nov 16 (IANS): Lieutenant General Ranbir Singh, General Officer commanding in chief (GoC-in-C), Northern Command on Friday applauded Army Goodwill Schools in Jammu and Kashmir for the excellent work these institutions have been doing.

At a function in the Udhampur headquarters of the Northern Command, the GoC-in-C awarded 24 teachers chosen from these goodwill schools for their teaching ability and creation of innovative teaching aids.

The awards were sponsored by Bharti Foundation and included cash prize, trophy and a certificate. The Bharti Foundation has been providing quality and technical education support to the Army Goodwill Schools for nearly three years.

The Army Commander applauded the excellent work put in by such schools in contributing towards improvement of education standards in the state of J&K. He also exhorted the teachers to be role models and mould the students to be responsible citizens of the country.

Started with just four primary schools in 1998, the Northern Command is currently running 45 Army Goodwill Schools under Project Sadbhavana which provides education to 15,000 students and employs 1,000 teaching and non-teaching staff.

These also include two fully residential public schools -- in Pahalgam and Rajouri.

The schools have constantly endeavoured to co-opt modern teaching aids, such as digital classrooms, modern labs, well stocked library and excellent sports infrastructure.

Over a period of time, these schools have been contributing positively to the overall development of youth in the state.