In a bid to attract students to State-run schools, the Odisha Government has decided to provide diary notebooks to the primary and upper primary school students from this academic session.
The decision was made at a review meeting chaired by School & Mass Education (S&ME) Secretary Ranjana Chopra here on Friday.
The diary featuring all the details about yearly plans, school programmes, schemes for students and process of imparting education would be distributed to students in June.
Earlier, there was a provision to provide the diaries to the School Management Committees (SMCs).
As per the decisions, the Ujjwala scheme launched for skill development of students from Classes-I to VIII would be widened. For the schools achieving 100% success in the scheme in 2016-17, the concerned SMCs would be awarded.
As the free textbooks are still not available in all the schools, the Government has decided to supply the books by June 18.
Notably, 30 per cent the schools are yet to get free textbooks. While 80 per cent to 90 per cent of textbooks have been distributed in schools in coastal districts, only 55 per cent to 86 per cent of books have reached the schools in Koraput, Malkangiri, Mayurbhanj, Kandhamal, Gajapati, Ganjam, Boudh and Subarnapur districts.
A total of 70 per cent of books have been sent to Dhenkanal, Angul, Keonjhar, Nayagarh, Sambalpur and Jharsuguda districts, sources in S&ME Department said.