CM waives hostel food fee

Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi on Thursday waived food fees for students of 455 school hostels and ordered a one-rupee hike in mid-day meal price per student. Speaking at the State-level children’s festival, ‘Suravi’, which began on November 12, Majhi said the State government would bear the food fees for 455 school hostels, benefiting both 314 boys’ and 141 girls’ hostels across the state.

Previously, parents were required to pay a monthly food expense of Rs 2,000, but after receiving requests from parents, the Chief Minister decided to waive the fees entirely. “Given the requests from parents, we decided to bear the cost of food for all boarders in these hostels. The annual expenses for this initiative will be increased from Rs 63.70 crore to Rs 187.15 crore,” Majhi said.

In addition, Majhi announced a one-rupee increase in the cost of the mid-day meal for students. Currently, the MDM expenditure is Rs 5.90 for primary students and Rs 8.82 for upper primary students. This increase aims to ensure better quality and nutritional value for the students, he added.

Majhi also criticised the previous BJD government’s approach to the school transformation programme, which aimed at enhancing school infrastructure. “Transforming schools isn’t just about painting buildings; it requires providing adequate teachers and facilities. The previous government’s initiative was a political move to create a vote bank, leaving students’ dreams in the dark,” he said. The Chief Minister outlined the government’s commitment to improving education in rural areas by announcing the launch of the ‘Godabarish Mishra Adarsh Prathamik Vidyalaya Yojana’. Under this scheme, model schools will be established in each panchayat, with an investment of Rs 3 crore for the development of each school.

“These schools will create an ideal learning environment for children. I had proposed this idea in 2019, but the previous government did not act on it. Now, with the blessings of Lord Jagannath, I am implementing this initiative,” Majhi said.

In an effort to reduce school dropouts among tribal students, Majhi also unveiled the Shahid Madho Singh Haath Kharcha Yojana, which will provide one-time financial assistance of Rs 5,000 to students passing Class 8 and 10 upon joining Classes 9 and 11.

Highlighting his government’s focus on education, Majhi said, “The new government is working to build a new Odisha. The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, which has not been implemented in Odisha due to political reasons, will now be introduced in the State starting from this academic year. This will bring about revolutionary changes in our education system.”