Ahead of polls, Odisha govt doubles monthly social security entitlement sum
Now with the hike, a beneficiary will be entitled to receive a minimum monthly pension of Rs 1000.
The Odisha government has shut as many as 7,478 schools and effected the merger of these educational institutions in the nearby lead schools on account of abysmally low enrollment of students, School and Mass Education Minister Sudam Marndi told the Odisha Assembly.
The merger of these schools due to low enrolment has taken place between 2012-13 and 2022-23 fiscals, the minister said in a written reply to a query by BJP MLA Naba Charan Majhi.
As per the policy of rationalisation and consolidation of schools, 7,478 satellite schools having roll strength of 20 or less than 20 were merged with the nearby lead schools.
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The Gjapati district of the state with 604 schools closed topped the list followed by Cuttack-529, Ganjam- 493, Kandhamal- 460 and Koraput-425. The state has 48,865 government-run schools with student enrolment to the tune of 50,79,912, said officials.
The government has identified these schools on the basis of student enrollment of less than 20 students for upper primary to high schools. The low-enrolment-affect schools were merged with nearby government schools identified as lead schools with better infrastructure and higher student enrollment.
All teachers and support staff, including mid-day meal cooks of satellite schools, were moved to the lead school without any change in their service conditions.
The decision to shut down schools was necessitated with an objective to improve the learning environment and outcomes for students and this would be achieved by streamlining and increasing teachers per grade, with better infrastructure and concentrated investment of resources, said officials of the school and mass education department.
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