Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, June 2: The state government will establish open schools in all blocks this year, school and mass education (S&ME) minister Debi Prasad Mishra said Thursday.
The state government had started 115 open schools in seven districts of the state last year to provide education to students who had dropped out of school.
The government will now extend this to cover all block, according to a decision taken during the performance review meeting of S&ME department chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik at the secretariat Thursday afternoon.
The open schools will allow dropout students, as well as elderly persons who have failed to complete schooling, to clear matriculation, S&ME officials said.
It was also decided at the meeting to set up 100 model schools this fiscal to add to the 100 that the government had set up in 2015-16. Models schools will be set up in the remaining 114 blocks by 2019, government sources said.
The model schools will aim to impart high-quality education at par with English-medium schools. Towards this end, officials had earlier stated that students of Oriya medium schools would be asked to complete a bridge course before joining a model school. Patnaik said that, if required, these schools will be provided up to `2lakh to facilitate proper management.
The government has also decided to start vocational courses in 284 high schools.
The meeting also discussed the imparting of education in the local dialect in tribal-dominated districts. Participants at the meeting revealed that the government has been able to provide teaching in 21 indigenous languages in 17 tribal-dominated districts of the state.
Meanwhile, the Chief Minister expressed pleasure over inclusion of class IX students in bicycle distribution programme. Officials said the move will help reduce the dropout rate at the secondary education level.
