Focus On Bringing Dropouts Back To School: Odisha SME Minister Samir Dash

Bhubaneswar: School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash, who has been retained by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik in his Cabinet after a major reshuffle, said the focus will be on making Odisha No-1 in education.

Speaking to media persons after taking oath as Minister of State (Independent Charge) Dash said Naveen Patnaik has always been looking forward to making the state No-1 in education to fulfil the dream of the Chief Minister to make Odisha No-1 in the country.

The Chief Minister had set a roadmap for 2036, wherein he hoped that Odisha will guide other states and become one of the great states of the country by 2036, the year when Odisha will complete 100 years as a separate state.

Talking about COVID challenges he said, after sailing through some of the toughest situations in the last two years due to COVID-19, focus will now be on learning-recovery. “The entire department, with the cooperation of teaching staff, will work to make learning interesting  for the students,” he added.

“Many could not join online classes study during COVID, so we plan to help students recovery from the education loss, regain the confidence of parents and bring more children to government schools will be our agenda in the next two years,” he added.

Talking about dropout he said “It is an all-India issue. It is due to socio-economic challenges faced by families during COVID which led to drop-out. We hope to sail through this challenge also in the next few years,” he added.