Odisha Assembly witnesses heat over 5T and rising dropout rate in matric

The Odisha Assembly proceedings on Tuesday witnessed pandemonium over the government's 5T initiative. The members of both Opposition and the ruling BJD came to loggerheads over the matter today. Trouble erupted after Leader of Opposition (LoP) Jayanarayan Mishra stated that the Odisha government is boasting about development of schools via the 5T initiative while most of the schools lack teachers in the state.

Soon all the BJD MLAs stood up and created ruckus. BJD MLA Arun Sahoo said that that several issues being raised by the LoP are trivial and a matter of joke.

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Meanwhile, the LoP also raised the issue of students dropping out of the ongoing matriculation examination in the state. Over 15,000 students skipped the matriculation examination in the state. Jayanarayan Mishra stated that Odisha ranks on top as far as the dropout ratio is concerned in the country.

Mishra also questioned the School and Mass Education Minister’s visits to schools during matriculation exam and taking pictures with students. Mishra further alleged that there cannot be development of schools if they are painted with ‘Pakistani’ colour. There are several schools which lack teachers, Mishra alleged.

“Over 15000 students filled up forms and didn’t turn up to appear the matriculation exam, which is really concerning. The dropout ratio is also high in Odisha. If the primary education collapses, how can there be development,” questioned Mishra.

"The schools need teachers and other infrastructure. Is it Mo Sarkar or 5T? They (BJD) call 5T a vision. Is it vision of 5T that over 15000 students are not appearing for the exam and we are no 1 in dropout ratio," questioned Mishra. “BJD members created ruckus over it. I don’t know why the BJD gets reactive whenever I raise the matter pertaining to 5T,” Mishra added.

(Reported by Harihar Chand)