BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government will facilitate open schooling for students at higher secondary level free of cost from the current academic calendar.

Odisha School Education Programme Authority (OSEPA) state project director Ananya Das informed that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed with National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) to facilitate students to avail open schooling at higher secondary/ Plus II level free of cost.

Das said as of now, students at the State Institute of Open Schooling (SIOS) were availing it free of cost only up to secondary level.

“As open schooling at the Plus II level was yet to start at SIOS, those willing to pursue it after Class X were required to do so under NIOS with a one-time fee of around `2,600 which was not feasible for many. However, following our MoU, students enrolled to open schooling at Plus II level with NIOS will be allowed to apply for its reimbursement,” she added.

The OSEPA state project director also said that the government is planning to offer open schooling to students of SIOS in higher secondary level.

With Odisha witnessing a marginal increase in dropout rate at secondary level (Class IX to XII) and middle level (Class VI to VIII) of education, School and Mass Education (SME) department officials said the initiative is expected to help state in mainstreaming more students to school education and bring down dropout rates.

The story is reported by Sudarsan Maharana for The New Indian Express