BHUBANESWAR: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday launched a new scheme, ‘Mission Suvidya’, aimed at bringing a qualitative shift in accommodation facilities provided to Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students residing in hostels run by ST/SC Development department.
Speaking during the launch, Naveen said “Mission Suvidya has a maximum laid down standard for assuring and sustaining quality with an objective to achieve ISO certification.”
The ST & SC Development department runs 6,500 hostels with over 5.7 lakh students. Mission Suvidya will provide a congenial atmosphere to all inmates in a phased manner. It will guarantee quality services for the students in the areas of safety and security, health, hygiene and food provisions.
He also launched a logo and unveiled the dashboard of Suvidya Mission. A short video on the mission was screened. Naveen also released two illustrative booklets on Bathudi and Gandia community.
“I believe these complementary provisions will enable students to focus better on their studies,” Naveen said and thanked Quality Council of India (QCI) for joining hands with the State in this endeavour.
The department signed three agreements, one with Quality Council of India (QCI), second with Akshara Foundation and the third one with TRIFED.
The QCI will conduct a comprehensive assessment and evaluation of ST-SC hostels leading to quality assurance and sustenance with an objective to achieve ISO 9001: 2015 certification for these hostels.
QCI Director General RP Singh and Tribal Affairs Director Sachin Yadav signed the agreement.The second MoU was signed between Akshara Foundation CEO Ashok Kamath and Sachin Yadav. The Foundation will cooperate and collaborate with the department to improve the learning outcomes of students. It has developed specific modules like School Readiness Programme for Grade 1 students, classroom/hostel library programme, digital learning solutions and other programmes.
Scope of the programme will cover all schools with primary sections under the purview of the department in a phased manner benefitting more than two lakh students in the first phase.The third MoU was signed between DGM TRIFED Amit Bhatnagar and TDCCOL MD Sarat Mohanty to ensure market linkages to various products produced by tribal artisans and tribal entrepreneurs.