The State Government has directed all district Collectors to ensure that all the Government-run schools and anganwadi centres (AWCs) have safe drinking water and total sanitation facilities soon.
The facilities will be provided under the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA), said Rural Development Secretary CJ Venugopal in his direction to the District Collectors.The State has received Rs 100 crore extra to provide drinking water to the people.“The Rural Development Department has committed to ensure supply of safe drinking water under National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) to all Anganawadi Centres on priority basis,” said Venugopal in his letters to all the Collectors. Venugopal informed that the State Government has taken all out efforts to provide safe drinking water facilities to all the schools in the State either by sinking tube-wells or through schemes under NRDWP funds. 0
A survey report, ‘Status of Elementary and Secondary Education in Odisha-2012’, prepared recently by the Odisha Primary Education Programme Authority (OPEPA) revealed that out of the total 53,193 elementary schools, 12,588 schools have no toilets and 2,346 have no drinking water facilities. Similarly, 27,516 schools accounting for more than 50 per cent of schools have no separate toilets for girls and boys, the report said.