Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi today reviewed the programs of Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Scheduled Castes (SC) Development Department at Lok Seva Bhavan and issued important directives for the overall development of ST and SC children.
According to an official press release, Chief Minister Majhi emphasized on improving the quality of food for children in the hostels run by the department. Along with this, the Chief Minister also suggested giving utmost importance to health, safety and cleanliness. He also suggested that Ministers and Secretaries should visit schools and hostels regularly and check the management systems.
During the discussion at the meeting, it was revealed that permission has been given to convert 14 high schools under the department into higher secondary schools. The Chief Minister directed that at least 10 high schools should be converted into higher secondary schools this year. Further, the Chief Minister said that there is a need to upgrade more high schools to reduce the dropout rate.
Similarly, the hostels of various primary schools in the state are managed by the ST and SC Development Department. This is especially being implemented in tribal-dominated districts. However, since the conditions of these hostels are not good, they are being improved and new hostels are being built. It was revealed at the meeting that in the first phase program for the improvement of 301 hostels has been taken up in the undivided Koraput district.
The Chief Minister said that there is a need for improvement of hostels in all the tribal areas. He suggested expediting the programme. He also ordered to make some hostels 100 seated as per requirement.
The establishment of Ekalavya Model Schools was also discussed at the meeting. While 114 such schools have been sanctioned for Odisha, 32 schools are currently in operation and 15 more schools are scheduled to open this year. The Chief Minister advised to speed up the establishment of these schools by speeding up different approval processes especially expediting forest land clearance.
Along with this, other important programs were also discussed in the meeting. Various programs like Madho Singh Hata Kharcha Yojana, Jangal Jami Adhikar Yojana, Anwesha, PM Janman, Special Development Council, etc were discussed to prevent child dropout.
ST & SC Development Minister Nityananda Gond, Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja, Development Commissioner Anu Garg, Additional Additional Chief Secretary to Chief Minister Nikunj Bihari Dhal, Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue and Forest and Environment Departments Satyabrat Sahu, Secretary, Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes Development Roopa Roshan Sahoo and senior officers were present in the meeting.
