Odisha to open 100 model schools next year: Minister

The Odisha government today announced to open at least 100 model schools from the next academic year even as the Centre stopped funding the proposed project.
A decision on the issue was taken at a high-level meeting presided over by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here.
The state has decided to recruit 1,772 employees including 1,332 teachers for the proposed 100 model schools, School and Mass Education Minister Debi Prasad Mishra said.
"The recruitment process would be completed by March next year while classes will start from April," the minister said.
The minister said the state was expecting an amount of Rs 300 crore from the Centre this year under the model school scheme. However, the NDA government was not inclined to fund the model school project now, he said.

The government would set up a new outfit like Odisha Secondary Schools Organisation under the School and Mass Education department for operation of the proposed model schools to be set up in the Central School pattern.

The model schools, as per the proposal, would be set up in all the 314 blocks of the state in a phased manner.
One hundred such model schools would come up in the first phase, the minister said, adding that the students from Standard I to Standard --XII would be taken in each model school.
There would be hostel facilities for the students. Besides usual studies, the students would also be imparted vocational training keeping in view their employability, the minister said.

Chief Minister Patnaik has suggested the department to make the model schools as model institutions, Mishra said.