World Bank Okays $500 Million Education Loan For Odisha, Five Other States

New Delhi: The World Bank (WB) has approved $500 million (about Rs 3,700 crore) loan to improve quality and governance of school education in Odisha and five other states in the country.

The bank’s Board of Executive Directors had approved the loan for Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for States Program (STARS) on June 24, WB said in a statement on Sunday.

Besides Odisha, the other states to receive aid under STARS are Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, NDTV reported.

“Some 250 million students (between the age of 6 and 17) in 1.5 million schools and over 10 million teachers will benefit from the program. The STARS program builds on the long partnership between India and the World Bank (since 1994), for strengthening public school education and to support the country’s goal of providing Education for All,” it said.

Prior to STARS, the bank had provided a total assistance of more than $3 billion towards this goal.

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