Bhubaneswar: The School and Mass Education department Wednesday admitted before the Assembly that more than half of the total upper primary schools in the state are running without electricity.
The self admission of the state government came to the fore through the statistics the state government submitted before the House when queries were made on the status of amenities at the state schools. One of the most worrying facts that came to the light was that more than half of such schools are still deprived of electricity after more than seven decades of Independence.
According to the government statistics, the state has a total of 16,117 upper primary schools out of which merely 6,755 schools (42 per cent) are reported to have electricity. This indicates that 58 per cent of such schools are still deprived of electricity.
This comes against the tall claims of the Union and state governments which claim to have electrified the rural Odisha through Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gramin Jyoti Yojana, Saubhagya Yojana or through some other state schemes.
However, there is one hygiene indicator which shows substantial increase in availability of toilets for the girls in such schools which is reported to be present in almost all schools.
Similarly, the boys’ toilets are also said to reach 97 per cent of the total schools in the state. On the other hand, more than 77 per cent of such schools in the state are also said to be providing better facilities by having boundary walls for their campus.
School infra
| CATEGORY | FIGURES |
| Upper Primary Schools | 16,117 |
| Girls Toilet | 16,018 (99%) |
| Boys Toilet | 15,615 (97%) |
| Boundary Wall | 12,501 (78%) |
| Electricity | 6,755 (42%) |
