Odisha scores big in school infrastructure, low in education tech

BHUBANESWAR: Only 10% schools in Odisha have computer facility while 6% have internet connectivity, revealed the State of the Education Report for India released by the UNESCO on Tuesday. The report stated that only 38% schools have working power connection and that 11% schools have vacancies and there is a requirement of around 28,816 teachers in the state.
“Following the outbreak of Covid-19, the use of technology in education became important but there were several issues like lack of devices and internet connectivity, lack of preparedness of teachers in the use of technology and lack of resources in regional languages,” the report mentioned.
“To overcome the challenges faced by the education system due to the closure of schools and lack of access to technology like internet and computers, the state government made arrangements of classes through radio and television. We also used YouTube so that children could see the recorded version of lessons as and when they had access,” school and mass education minister Samir Ranjan Dash said when asked about the report.
Odisha has shown improvement in some major infrastructure facilities like around 94% schools have libraries while 84% schools are getting free textbooks. In 90% schools, boys’ toilets are functional while it is 93% for girls’ toilets. Almost all schools — 99% — have functional drinking water facilities available, the report added.
Regarding the availability of teachers in schools, the report stated, “Odisha has a total of 3,40,477 teachers in 68,717 schools of which 91% schools are in rural areas. Among the total number of teachers, 45% are women and 84% work in rural areas. About 11% schools have vacancies and there is a requirement of around 28,816 teachers. Of the total positions, 67% are vacant in rural schools.”
The report also revealed that there are 3,197 schools with a single teacher, which is 5% of the total number of schools. As many as 88% of such schools are in rural areas. “Though the teachers’ strength is not bad in the state, but due to lack of proper rationalisation policy, more teachers are posted in urban and semi-urban schools while vacancy of teachers is more in rural schools,” said Anil Pradhan, convener of Right to Education (RTE) forum.
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