The State Government has set a target of building 1,000 hostels for students of Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes in the current financial year while 4,696 such hostels have already been constructed across the State.
A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here in Saturday. The meeting also reviewed the progress of hostel construction for tribal students in various blocks.
Discussions on provision of reserving seats for tribal students in public schools were also held. It was learnt that works for hostels at Pokhariput and Kalinga Vihar in Bhubaneswar have been started. While a sum of Rs10.64 crore has been sanctioned for the Pokhariput hostel, Rs9.97 crore would be spent for the one at Kalinga Vihar. The construction works of the two hostels would be completed by November 2014.
Five similar hostels would also be set up at other places of Bhuaneswar. Besides, Rourkela and Brahmapur would also have such hostels. Rourkela already has such a hostel where 110 students are getting education.
As many as 165 students are provided education in various public schools in Brahmapur.
In addition, 300 students are imparted education in the public schools in Malkangiri district while similar provisions are being made for SC and ST students in Baripada and Koenjhar.