KOLKATA: A primary school on the outskirts of Kolkata, which received Rs 12 lakh from Venezuela when Hugo Chavez was president, held a special prayer Tuesday for peace and stability in the country that was plunged into uncertainty following US’ capture and detention of Chavez’s successor, Nicolás Maduro, along with his wife Cilia Flores.Led by headmaster Sandip Baidya, around 30 students of Bagu Junior Basic School in Rajarhat joined the morning prayer and gathered around a portrait of Chavez.“Our students know his (Chavez’s) name and have heard the name of his country but they are not very well informed about what is happening there. We held a prayer for the people of Venezuela, from whom we once received generous funds for the school’s development,” Baidya said. The headmaster gave a short speech before the assembly observed a minute’s silence.On March 6, 2005, the-then Left Front govt arranged the visit of Chavez — a socialist leader — to the school to showcase successful implementation of midday meal scheme in rural Bengal. Impressed by what he saw, Chavez approved a grant of Rs 12 lakh for Bagu Junior Basic School on his return to Venezuela, a country he governed from 1999 till 2013. The cheque arrived in 2007.The school spent a part of the money to add two rooms — one on the ground floor and the other on the first — and the rest to fill a small pond in front of the building for the children’s safety. Baidya said a Venezuelan govt representative visited the school in 2020 to review the work undertaken with the money they sent.All the teachers and other employees who were at the school during Chavez’s visit have since retired, except Kalyani Mandal, who cooks midday meal. Now in her late 60s, Mandal remembers what she, her mother-in-law and two sisters-in-law had prepared that day: “We had cooked rice, dal and sabji, and boiled eggs. The guest (Chavez) served the meal to the children. There was a huge crowd. People from other villages had come to see him.”
