Odisha government has decided to provide free textbooks to the students of private and un-aided Odia medium schools in the state at par with government schools.
The scheme has been taken up under the 5T initiative of the government.
The scheme will be implemented from the next academic year 2024-25. The state government will provide free textbooks to students of classes 1 to 8.
As per the government, it will benefit more than 5 lakh students from 3,620 private and un-aided schools in the state. For this, the state government has set aside a sum of Rs 9.43 crore annually.
A Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) press release in this connection read, “The children studying in private Odia medium schools have been performing well in the annual high school certificate examination and have also been demonstrating their skills in various fields. The state government has already been providing free textbooks to students of all government schools in the state and free textbooks to Odia children in states like West Bengal, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.”