BHUBANESWAR: Of the 374 educationally backward districts in the country, 18 are in Odisha. This was informed by Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan while replying to a question in the Lok Sabha by MPs Rama Devi and Harish Dwivedi.
An expert committee constituted by the University Grants Commission (UGC) has identified these districts based on various educational parameters including gross enrollment ratio, college population ratio and average enrollment per college.
The districts are Angul, Balangir, Bargarh, Boudh, Deogarh, Dhenkanal, Gajapati, Ganjam, Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Keonjhar, Koraput, Malkangiri, Nabarangpur, Nayagarh, Nuapada, Rayagada and Sonepur.
As per UGC, Odisha has the highest number of educationally backward districts compared to its neighbour Andhra Pradesh which has 11 such districts, Chhattisgarh (15), Jharkhand (12) and West Bengal (17).
The Union Minister informed that the Centre has taken a number of measures to improve the educational standards in the country with special focus on the educationally backward districts. The measures include integrated scheme for School Education - Samagra Shiksha - that enables all children to have access to quality education with an equitable and inclusive classroom environment. The scheme covers 11.6 lakh schools, over 15.6 crore students and 57 lakh teachers of government and aided schools.