Bhubaneswar: On the occasion of Teachers’ Day, Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi urged teachers to play the role of mentors to students.
“Today, there are unlimited opportunities in various sectors. Teachers should identify the hidden talents in students and nurture them. They should act as mentors to the students and help them realise their dreams,” Majhi said at the state-level Teachers’ Day celebration here on Friday.
Majhi, whose return from New Delhi to Bhubaneswar was delayed by three hours due to bad weather conditions in the capital city on Friday morning, said there were two big challenges in the education sector — reducing the dropout rate and ensuring quality education.
Noting that a 24% dropout rate has been reported among Scheduled Tribe children, Majhi said his government has introduced the Shahid Madho Singh Haath Kharcha Scheme to address the issue.
CM Majhi criticised the previous state government, saying that there had been a shortage of teachers and inadequate focus on strengthening the educational infrastructure.
“As per reports, there is more than 24 per cent dropout rate among the Scheduled Tribe children. After getting the report, emphasis has been given to them. In a bid to reduce the dropout rate, we implemented the Madho Singh Haath Kharcha Scheme. More than three lakh students benefited under the scheme, significantly reducing dropout rates. We have expanded the midday meal (MDM) scheme to cover all students from Class I to Class X to check dropout rate,” stated the Chief Minister.
“The second challenge is ensuring quality education. We have somehow failed in providing quality education in the past due to a shortage of teachers,” said Majhi.
He was optimistic as the situation in education sector is changing with the implementation of National Education Policy (NEP) 2020.
Advising teachers and students to take inspiration from the life and work of former President Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan — whose birth anniversary is celebrated as Teachers’ Day in India – CM Majhi said the state government will set up a model school in every panchayat.
“We will also recruit 45,000 new teachers in the state in the next three years,” Majhi added.
70 teachers felicitated
The chief minister felicitated 70 teachers, three district education officers (DEOs), 10 block education officers (BEOs) and three teachers’ training institutes for their admirable contribution in the field of education.
Majhi felicitated Jharsuguda, Khurda and Jagatsinghpur districts for achieving excellence in education.
Jharsuguda received the first prize of Rs 3 crore, Khurda was adjudged second (Rs 2 crore) and Jagatsinghpur third (Rs 1 crore).
