Bhubaneswar: In a bid to encourage tribal students pursue higher studies, the state government has decided to complete the construction of Mega Tribal Education Complex at Berhampur by the end of next year.
This decision was taken at a high-level meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Secretary Aditya Prasad Padhi here Saturday.
Besides the complex, 14 Ekalabya Model Residential Schools and 10 Kalinga Model Residential Schools would also be made functional by 2018. The state government has made disbursement of scholarships to ST, SC and OBC students transparent through centralised disbursal system. Now, the beneficiaries are getting their entitlements on direct benefit transfer (DBT) mode. Padhi directed the department concerned to ensure strict enforcement of safety and security measures in residential schools and girls’ hostels. The departmental officers were asked to act vigilantly and proactively in the matter.
ST/ SC Development Secretary Surendra Kumar said 22, 13, 868 students had been covered under scholarship programme in the academic year 2016-17. Of these, 16, 65,706 were covered under pre-Matric programme while 5, 48,162 were covered under post-Matric programme. Moreover, as many as 11, 56,963 ST students, 7, 98,382 SC and 2, 58,523 OBC students are getting the benefits, he said.
Steps are being taken to modify and upgrade the Prerana portal and its integration with IFMS. Students were advised to give their Aadhaar number online using Prerana while applying for scholarships. Two urban hostels have been set up in Bhubaneswar to facilitate higher education for ST and SC students, said Kumar, adding, about 700 students are residing in these hostels and pursuing their higher studies. Detailed guidelines and SOP on safety and security of boarders, safe cooking and serving, food menu chart along with code of conduct and duties of each staff member have been circulated to all the concerned employees.
So far 1,883 matrons and 276 AMNs have been appointed for girls’ hostels while special School and Hostel Monitoring Units (SHMU) have been set up in the departments on 24×7 operation basis with a dedicated telephone number.
The telephone is connected to a hotline with girls’ hostels from where any boarder can directly convey her problems to the state headquarters for immediate help. PNN
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