Senior IAS officers in Odisha have come forward to adopt Odia-medium schools to improve quality education and basic infrastructure.
More than 20 IAS officers would be mentoring schools making the initiative one of its kind in the country.
“The basic objective is to transform a school into a very good one and ensure quality education through interaction with teachers, students and school administrators,” said Bhupendra Singh Poonia, State Project Director of Odisha School Education Programme Authority and Member Secretary of ‘Mo School’ programme on Saturday.
“As they hold very senior positions, the officers are better placed to coordinate with different departments, community and alumni associations and access funds from corporate social responsibility and district mineral foundations to fill the gap,” said Mr. Poonia.
They could also extend career counselling and motivational talks.
Chief Secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra is said to have adopted the D.N. High School in Keonjhar where he had studied. Works Secretary Krishan Kumar adopted the M.R. Boys High School and the M.R. Girls High School in Gajapati district.
Roopa Roshan Sahoo, Additional Secretary to Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, has adopted the B.B. High School in Dhenkanal. Many others have already shown interest in the programme.
A few years ago, the government had launched the ‘Mo School (My School)’ programme to reach out to Odias in India and abroad seeking their involvement in developing their own schools — quality and infrastructure wise. The old students are being encouraged to give back to their alma maters.
As per the programme, 53.68 lakh students study in government schools while 12.77 lakh students study in private schools and another 5.75 lakh study in government-aided schools.
There are 67,961 schools (Class 1-10) in Odisha — 61,163 are government and government-aided and the rest 6,798 include private, Central government and some un-recognised schools.
The Mo School Abhiyan has become one of the largest alumni contribution programmes with 3.8 lakh ex-students contributing more than ₹60 crore during the past three years.
