Bhubaneswar: Odisha Cabinet has put its stamp of approval on the new scheme ‘Madho Singh Haath Kharch Yojana’ to provide financial assistance of Rs 5000 to every tribal student for their studies, the state Assembly was informed on Thursday.
Announcing this in the House, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Mukesh Mahaling said the scheme, announced in this year’s annual budget, is aimed at checking dropout rate among tribal students in the state.
Around three lakh students belonging to the Scheduled Tribe (ST) category will be benefited under the Madho Singh Haath Kharcha Yojana, for which the state government has allocated Rs 156 crore in the budget this year.
Highlighting the scheme, the Minister said that the tribal students promoted from Class 8 to 9 and from 10 to 11 in schools will receive Rs 5000 per year as an incentive amount. The scheme will be implemented from this year.
With the dropout rate at the secondary education level remaining one of the biggest concerns of the government, more funds have been earmarked for retaining students in the budget.
