The state education department has sanctioned funds for two high schools located in Cooch Behar town for refurbishment of existing infrastructure and extension of facilities at the institutions.

The approval came after students of Jenkins School and Chakchaka High School met chief minister Mamata Banerjee during her visit to the district on June 18 and requested her to facilitate allocation of funds.

On Wednesday, Arvind Kumar Meena, the district magistrate, called handed over a letter sent by the chief minister to Priyatosh Sarkar and Debasish Pal, the headmasters of the schools.

“The state education department has sanctioned around ₹79 lakh for the development of these two schools. The fund will be used for certain works. At Jenkins, the work would be carried out by the state PWD while the Cooch Behar zilla parishad will do the work in the other school,” said Meena.

According to the DM, for Jenkins, around ₹29 lakh has been sanctioned. It will be used to carry out repairs of the heritage school building.

“For Chakchaka High School, ₹50 lakh would be spent to build additional classrooms and to renovate the playground of the institution,” added the DM.

“We thank the chief minister for promptly allocating funds for our school. It will largely help in conservation of the heritage school building,” said Sarkar, the headmaster of Jenkins School.

Following the demand from the students, Mamata Banerjee instructed the DM and Dyutiman Bhattacharya, the SP, to visit these schools and file a report. Later, the officers submitted a detailed report to the state education department.

“We thank the chief minister. Considering the number of students, additional classrooms will help us accommodate them in a better way,” said Pal, the headmaster of Chakchaka High School.