By IANS,
New Delhi: Students from Jammu and Kashmir met President Pranab Mukherjee Saturday as part of the Indian Army’s initiative towards national integration, officials said.
The students belonged to a school from remote Bandipora town of Jammu and Kashmir and were accompanied by students of a Noida school on their visit to Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Students from Army Goodwill School, Bandipora, were in Delhi under a student exchange initiative “DOSTI”, which is part of the Indian Army’s Sadbhavana Programme, a statement said. They were accompanied by students of ‘Step By Step School’, Noida (Uttar Pradesh), it added.
Mukherjee congratulated the army on its initiative and said that despite differences in language and culture, we are all Indians.
The programme aims to provide exposure to the students from the Kashmir Valley to the other parts of the country with the purpose that they would spread goodwill and the message of peace and prosperity in their native place.
The student exchange programme has been organised by the army and 14 Rashtriya Rifles (Garhwal Rifles) under the aegis of Headquarters 81 Mountain Brigade of the Indian Army in collaboration with ‘Step by Step School’.