Bhubaneswar: Giving utmost priority on imparting quality education and employability skills in youth, the Odisha Government has allocated a whopping Rs 22,631 crore for the education sector in the State Budget for 2020-21.
The Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya (OAV) scheme, which is the brain-child of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for promoting quality English medium schools in each block of the State, has come long way in enhancing educational standards across the State. Currently, there are 214 OAVs in the State. Recently, the Chief Minister announced to open 100 more OAVs. After the completion of 100 more OAVs, the 314 OAVs will benefit more than 1, 75,840 rural students in fulfilling their aspirations.
In this direction, the State Government has allocated Rs 400 crore for OAV in the Budget 2020-21.
Similarly, Rs 3157 crore has been proposed for Samagra Sikshya Abhijan, an overarching programme for the school education sector. For the Mid Day Meal scheme, an outlay of Rs.800 crore has been made by the finance minister. For LPG connections, Rs.8 crore have been proposed in the budget.
The Mo School Programme, an initiative that aims to create a platform for people to connect, collaborate and contribute to revamping the government and government-aided schools for a robust and vibrant school education system, has received Rs 40 crore budgetary allocation for 2020-21, while Rs 10 crore has been proposed for Mo College Abhijan, an initiative which aims to establish an alumni connect network across the state’s colleges and universities for quality education.
The State Government has also allocated Rs 231 crore for Gangadhar Meher Sikhya Manakbrudhi Yojana (GMSMY) and Rs.277 crore for construction of hostels for Tribal girls and urban hostel complexes.
All students’ scholarships are credited through DBT under PRERANA – Portal for which an amount of Rs.1,407 crore is earmarked.
The “Odisha Higher Education Programme for Excellence and Equity (OHEPEE)” with financial assistance from World Bank has been given an outlay of Rs.130 crore and for Odia University at Satyabadi, a provision of Rs.15 crore has been made in the budget.
Infrastructure development in Higher Education gota boost with Rs.200 crore allocation and for free Laptop distribution scheme Rs.45 crore has been allocated in the Budget. For RUSA, Rs.220 crore is proposed along with Rs.49 crore for Merit Scholarship.
To take the skill development eco-system “Skilled-in-Odisha” to the level of a global brand, the State Government is establishing a “World Skills Centre” in Bhubaneswar with assistance from Asian Development Bank. For this, Rs.220 crore has been provided. For the infrastructure development of Technological Universities, Engineering Colleges, Polytechnics and ITIs, a provision of Rs.199 crore has been made in the budget by the finance minister.