Bhubaneswar: With a view to raising student attendance in government schools, the state government has decided to provide free school bags to students of Class-I to V under its flagship programme of Gangadhar Meher Sikshya Manakbrudhi Yojana (GMSMY).
The government has provided free school bags to students of Class-I to III in government and government aided primary schools in the year 2016. However, school bags will be given to Class I and V students of government-run primary schools during this year (2017-18), official sources said here Wednesday.
The School and Mass Education department has recently issued a notification in this regard. From next year onwards, however, school bags will be given only to students of Class-I in such schools.
The government will provide `125 per bag with annual hike of 10 per cent and Goods Services Tax (GST) to the schools, the source said.
The bags will be procured centrally by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) authorities and distributed to children through field level functionaries of schools concerned, the notification said.
The government has also said that school uniform will be provided to Above Poverty Level (APL) boys studying in government primary and upper primary schools. The government would spend maximum `400 per child for two pairs of uniforms.
Earlier, the government was providing free uniforms to all the girl children and ST, SC & BPL boys studying in Class-I to VIII in government schools.
PNN
