BHUBANESWAR: The state government will soon bring a dedicated management system for ensuring security and well-being of students residing in hostels under the ST and SC Development department. A decision in this regard was taken at a meeting presided over by development commissioner Anu Garg here on Wednesday. The new management system will expedite decision making at the district and state level in emergent security- related incidents taking place in the hostels. The hostels will be connected to the office of the district collectors through management information system (MIS) so that decisions can be taken within hours of an incident taking place. The ST and SC Development department has 5,841 hostels under it and around 5.4 lakh inmates reside in these facilities. Of the total students, 3.4 lakh reside in schools run by the department. Another 1.77 lakh students stay in schools run by the School and Mass Education department. But the hostels of School and Mass Education department dedicated for ST and SC students are run by the ST and SC Development department.
Similarly, 22,340 and 1,620 students reside in ANWESA and AKANKHYA schools respectively, run by the ST and SC Development department. As 58 per cent of the inmates of these hostels are girl students, their security and safety remains a major issue before the authorities. Besides, a majority of the hostels are in inaccessible areas. The authorities face problems of health service, infrastructure and shortage of staff. Besides, there is the problem of shortage of living space in the hostels as more inmates are admitted than the available seats. Official sources said the focus will be on expediting the response time to any situation.
Besides the security aspect, repair of electricity and water pipelines, easy access to healthcare facilities and increase in budgetary provision were also discussed at the meeting. Referring to these issues, the development commissioner said there should be no compromise on security and safety of students. Teachers, parents and members of school committee should give importance to the security aspect besides maintaining a proper study atmosphere. Training should also be imparted to students on how to cope with natural disasters, Garg added.