A day after launching smart health cards under the Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Saturday rolled out the Smart School Project from Hinjli and Shergada blocks in Ganjam district.
According to government sources, Patnaik inaugurated as many as 50 smart schools in his home constituency Hinjilicut - 27 at Shergarh and 23 at Hinjli. The schools were developed under 5T High School Transformation scheme.
Under the initiative, the schools will have smart classrooms where students will be provided education through smart boards and digital medium with an aim to achieve 100 per cent results and higher A1 grades.
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In an inauguration spree, the State government has said that the scheme will be launched in 10 smart schools every day for a period of five days. The events will be graced by over 100 MLAs and 20 ministers, sources added.
On the one hand, while the Odisha government has claimed that it expects revolutionary changes in the way the schools are run after the rollout of the scheme, OTV ground reports on the plight of the primary educational institutions paint a different story.
Consider the example of Sugar Industry High School in Nuagaon. Surprisingly, the school which was established in 1984 has 120 students including 47 from class 10, but is run by only one teacher.
The students of the school have alleged that the unavailability of teachers has severely hit their studies.
"We are not sure whether we will pass the class 10 examination or not. I urge the government to fill up the vacant teacher posts in our school," said Laxmi Swain, a student.
Anupama Das, the lone teacher and also the headmistress of the school opined, "Even after meeting the DEO apprising him about the situation, no step has been taken yet. If I fall sick, the school remains closed for the day. This is not the way we should provide education to the students," said.
Meanwhile, the Opposition parties BJP and Congress have come down heavily on the government while calling the launch of the smart school scheme a ploy.
Rather than inaugurating smart schools, the CM should focus on infrastructure development and filling up vacant teacher posts, said the Oppositions parties.
"The teacher and lecturer posts are lying vacant in many schools and colleges across the State. The ruling BJD government could not provide toilets in schools in its 21 years of governance. Now these smart schools are like a daydream," said senior Congress leader Sura Routray.
Echoing similar views, BJP State Vice President Bhrugu Baxipatra said, "While there are vacancies of teachers at schools, the inauguration of these smart schools is a way to garner votes ahead of the elections."
Reacting to the allegations Minister of State for Energy, Dibya Shankar Mishra said, "The initiative by our CM Naveen Patnaik is widely appreciated by all other chief ministers of the States. Criticisms by the Opposition is unwarranted."