2205 primary schools in Odisha operating from single rooms: Minister

BHUBANESWAR: School and mass education minister Badri Narayan Patro on Thursday and admitted in the Assembly that as many as 2,205 primary schools in the state are operating from a single room.    

Replying to a question from Naba Kishore Das (Cong) and from other members, the minister said 17,000 schools in the state were operating from only two rooms. He said in primary schools, 1,66,743 classes were being conducted in 96,306 class rooms, while in upper-primary schools there were 95,987 class rooms in which 1,22,045 classes were being conducted.

The minister said the state government had submitted a proposal to the Centre for construction of 8546 class rooms in schools. Out of this, the Centre sanctioned funds for construction of 713 class rooms, he said.

Members, cutting across party lines, expressed concern over the poor condition primary education in Odisha. Jiban Pradip Das (BJD) alleged that the rationalisation committee constituted by the Balasore district administration to look into the ratio between the students and teachers ignored the proposals submitted by him.

Padmanabha Behera (BJD) alleged at some schools there are more teachers compared to class rooms. He wanted to know what steps the state government has taken after the Centre cut down funds under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) scheme.

As per the Right to Education Act, there is a huge shortfall of classrooms at primary and upper primary levels, the minister informed, adding recruitment process is on to appoint 14,087 teachers at the primary level.