Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said on Wednesday that the state government is committed to the quality education of children at all levels.
“Children are our future and hope and fulfilling their dreams and guiding them is our top priority. The government has been striving to provide quality education to children in schools from pre-primary to Class XII level.”
Inauguration of Suravi 2025
Inaugurating the state-level children’s festival ‘Suravi 2025’, organised by the School and Mass Education department here, Majhi highlighted various initiatives implemented by the state government for the students, starting from Godabarish Mishra Adarsha Prathamik Vidyalaya scheme to the PM-SHRI scheme. He noted that the state government attaches utmost importance to education.
Record budget allocation
“In the current budget, a record `41,273 crore has been allocated to the education sector. Around 14.2 per cent of the total budget, accounting for about 3.9 per cent of the state’s GDP, is being spent on education, a feat achieved by only a few states in India,” Majhi said and added that in Odisha, the highest expenditure among all departments is in the education sector, with a major share going toward primary education.
The chief minister, on the occasion, felicitated students for outstanding performance in various competitions and academic fields and awarded ‘Mukhya Mantri Bhasa Bruti’ to five students. Additionally, he distributed wheelchairs to differently-abled students.
School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond said, programmes like Suravi are immensely helpful in promoting creativity and intellectual growth among children.
Festival participation and initiatives
SME secretary N Thirumala Naik said over 2,400 students and teachers are taking part in the festival this year. Through the ‘Nipun Odisha-Nipun Bharat’ initiative, students from classes I to III have also been given the opportunity to participate at both the school and cluster levels under the programme, he added.
Odisha School Education Programme Authority (OSEPA) state project director, Ananya Das and other officials were present at the event in which various competitions, interactive sessions, exhibitions of outstanding science projects, a Model United Nations pavilion, workshops and group cultural programmes will be organised for three days.
