7 days ago
Govt waives hostel fees for 45k OAV students
Bhubaneswar: Govt on Wednesday decided to waive the fee for boarders in 455 hostels of Odisha Adarsha Vidyalayas (OAVs), which will benefit around 45,000 students. The students were paying hostel fees of Rs 2,000 per month, official sources said.
The state has 314 OAVs comprising 100-seat hostels for both girls and boys. In these OAVs, 173 type-IV KGBV (Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya) girls' hostels are functioning in 173 educationally backward blocks. The expenditure for these hostels is borne under the centrally sponsored Samagra Shiksha scheme (60:40 share of central and state govts, respectively).
In the rest of the 455 hostels (141 girls' and 314 boys' hostels), students were required to pay Rs 2,000 per month as fees.
The state cabinet meeting on Wednesday approved bearing the cost of hostel fees for the students of the 455 hostels through state funding to provide equal educational opportunities to all, read an official statement.
The total financial implication for the proposal is Rs 349.2 crore for five years from April 1 this year to March 31, 2030.
Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya Sangathan was established in 2015-16 to provide quality teaching in English medium at the secondary level for children, especially in rural areas. To address the transportation problems in rural areas, the govt has set up hostel facilities in OAVs for needy students and those who are unable to commute every day from distant places.
