Over 2,000 Govt High Schools in Poor Condition in Odisha

The infrastructure of 2,100 out of 5,080 government-run high schools in Odisha are in dilapidated condition, school and mass education minister Samir Ranjan Dash told the Assembly on Wednesday.

In a written reply to a question asked by BJP member Nauri Nayak, the minister said there were 37,067 classrooms in 5,080 government high schools in the state as per the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE) 2020-21.

Of the total number of classrooms, 5,874 classrooms in 2,098 high schools are in a dilapidated condition and 377 high schools don’t have a boundary wall, he said.

The highest 148 such schools are there in Ganjam district, which is the home district of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, followed by Mayurbhanj district where 133 schools are in bad condition.

While 131 such schools are there in Balasore district, Cuttack and Jajpur district have 116 and 110 dilapidated high schools, respectively.

The state government has estimated that around Rs 1,005 crore is required for construction of the required number of new classrooms and boundary walls, Dash said.

The state will make a detailed estimation of funds required for repair of dilapidated classrooms and construction of new classrooms and accordingly submit the annual work plan and budget for the year 2023-24 under Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan before the Centre, he said.

After the approval of the proposal, the state government will take required steps, Dash said, adding, the school repair and renovation work has been given to state panchayati raj and drinking water department.

Moreover, he said, the state government has submitted a proposal to the union government for construction of additional 5,306 classrooms during the period from 2022-23 to 2025-26 under the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan. However, the Centre has not approved any additional classroom during the current year, added the minister.

In another reply, Dash said 436 panchayats in the state have no high school. The upper primary schools in these panchayats are being upgraded into high schools.

Further, new high schools are being set up based on requirements with the approval of the Central government in the panchayats which have no high schools, he added.