BHUBANESWAR: Odisha government will launch ‘Mo College’ campaign for holistic development of colleges across the state from second week of March.
The campaign is built on the lines of ‘Mo School Abhiyan’, a scheme for development of schools that is driven by alumni involvement and contributions.
The Higher Education department has worked out a detailed action plan to create a platform where alumni of institutes can connect and contribute for the development of their alma mater.
The department has also decided to pick 100 mentors who will pledge their association with the campaign on the inaugural day.
A ‘Mo College’ Society has been formed to monitor the campaign. The department is also developing digital platform for registration of alumni.
After the launch of ‘Mo School Abhiyan’ in 2016, the government had decided to roll out ‘Mo College’ initiative last year. However, the outbreak of Covid-19 delayed its implementation, sources said.
As per the modalities, the ‘Mo College’ initiative will have a corpus fund of Rs 20 crore for development of colleges. Funds will be managed from two sources, contribution from donors and the government allocation.
Former students of colleges and individuals will be encouraged to contribute while the government will release twice the amount of their contribution to the institution concerned for its development.
There, however, will be an upper cap of Rs 50 lakh on contribution of the government for a college in a year. Activities such as motivational programmes, value-based education and career counselling will also be undertaken under the initiative.