The Odisha government is taking various steps to develop a vibrant higher-education ecosystem in the state, chief minister Naveen Patnaik said. According to the official statement, to achieve the purpose over 1,000 professors, associate and assistant professors, and junior lecturers have been recruited in different government and non-government colleges recently.
“This has helped in increasing the student-teacher ratio in our colleges,” Patnaik said virtually during an induction programme at the Loka Seba Bhavan, the state secretariat, for non-teaching staff for government colleges.
The statement added that laboratory assistants and junior librarians have been appointed to give more thrust to quality education as their role is essential to create a dynamic environment for education in institutions. The statement further noted that chief minister Patnaik hoped that they would encourage scientific aptitude among the students.
Furthermore, Patnaik mentioned that the state is developing more playgrounds at the school level, and stadiums at the block level to groom sportspersons from childhood. Recruitment of physical education teachers will certainly play a positive role in enhancing the interest of the students in sports, and create more national and international players, Patnaik said.
Additionally, chief secretary Suresh Chandra Mohapatra said that under the direction of the chief minister, the state is continuously recruiting for educational institutions.
Meanwhile, chief secretary Mohapatra earlier announced that the state government will invest Rs 1,000 crore to upgrade the state-run Veer Surendra Sai University of Technology (VSSUT) into a Centre of Excellence for technical education and compete with Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and other national institutes. He said around 80 acres of land has been identified for the expansion of VSSUT. He also added that a master plan for the purpose will be prepared and submitted to chief minister Naveen Patnaik within a fortnight.
With inputs from PTI
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