Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday launched the Adarsha Vidyalaya (model school) scheme at a function held in his constituency Hinjili. He inaugurated the first Model School at Sasan Ambagaon near Hinjilicut and announced the inauguration of another 99 schools online.
“Students won’t have to go for quality education to cities. Now, they will be able to get education in their localities. I hope these Adarsha Vidyalayas will help fulfil the hope and aspirations of the students,” said Patnaik.
As many as 88,318 students applied to take admission in the 100 schools, out of which 24,000 students have got a chance to get admission. Uniforms and books would be provided free of cost to the students in these schools.
Interestingly, even though the CM announced inauguration of 100 schools, School and Mass Education Minister Debi Prasad Mishra had recently told the State Assembly that in the first phase, construction of 75 out of 100 schools has been completed by end of February. No announcement was made on Tuesday regarding the status of the remaining 25 schools.
The Government plans to open model schools in all the 314 blocks. Construction of the schools is likely to be completed by 2017-18 academic year, the Government had announced earlier.
These schools will follow the CBSE curriculum, and Odia will be taught as a second language. They will have Classes-VI, VII and VIII initially and other classes will open later. Each class will have 80 students in two sections with a teacher-pupil ratio of 1:25 and classroom-student ratio of 1:40.
While 50 per cent seats will be reserved for girls, reservation for other categories will be proportionate to the percentage of the population of the block. The schools will also have reservations for children of State Government employees, official sources said.
The Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya Sangathan was established on September 19, 2015 as a society under the Society Registration Act of Odisha.
The General Body is the apex body of the Sangathan headed by the School & Mass Education Minister as Chairman. There is an Executive Body headed by the DC-cum-ACS as Chairman.