Odisha to introduce online Odia courses for diaspora, students outside

Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday announced online certificate courses in Odia would be offered from next year for the benefit of Non-Resident Odias (NROs) globally and the students residing outside the state.

"I would like to announce that the government of Odisha has decided to facilitate Odia Certification Courses on online basis for the benefit of Non-Resident Odias (NROs) globally and for the students residing outside Odisha from 2017," he said.

Patnaik said the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) would conduct the lower Odia test, the curriculum of which will be equivalent to Class 8 standard Odia.

"For this, the Odisha Society of Americas (OSA) and other organisations had made an appeal to me earlier. This will benefit the second generation of Odia children living outside the countries and will carry forward the grand legacy of our language," he said.

School and Mass Education Minister Debi Prasad Mishra said the introduction of Odia curriculum and lower Odia test would immensely benefit the children of the Odia families residing overseas and outside Odisha.

The test will be online which may be conducted once or at best twice a year by BSE. The Odia curriculum for the certificate course has been developed and uploaded to the website of BSE.

The desirous students will appear for 70 marks including translation from Odia to the English language.

While the NRO students will have to pay $100 to appear in the examination, the students residing outside Odisha will pay Rs 1,500, said the Minister.

--IANS

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