Bhubaneswar: Encouraged by the support of the alumni groups towards the ‘Mo School Abhiyan’ programme, Odisha Government will now collaborate with them for improving schools which are 50 to 100 years old across the state and infuse fresh life into them.
The decision was taken at the executive council meeting of Mo School Abhiyan here on August 31 under the chairpersonship of Pradeepta Kumar Mohapatra.
A government statement said a long-term plan will be devised for infusion of fresh life into these schools in collaboration with the alumni associations and foundation. Reviving these schools was a request that came from a large number of alumni bodies.
Mo School Abhiyan is one of its kind initiative in the country, which aims to encourage and inspire the alumni to contribute to the growth and development of the alma mater. The programme was launched by Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Children’s Day in 2017.
Key points that emerged out of the executive council meeting:
1. The project cost has touched Rs 100 crore since the launch of Mo School Abhiyan.
2. 12567 projects worth Rs 64530387 was sanctioned in the August 30 meeting for 708 schools.
3. With this, 12,105 projects for 9950 schools in 308 blocks with a grant of Rs 67,09,22,856 has been sanctioned.
4. The total number of contributors stands at 1,49,536 and contribution received at Rs 33,60,01428 as of August 2019.
Under Mo school Abhiyan, school children will also be groomed after school hours with the alumni support, said member secretary Bhupender Singh Poonia.
“By leveraging the experience, success and influence of the alumni and its vast network to impart best practices in school education, this will ensure that a proper learning ecosystem is available beyond classrooms for achieving desired learning outcomes by children in schools,” he said.
This pilot initiative will be taken up in 5000 villages this year and then taken up across the state by the next summer holidays, he added.
The State Government has recently appointed Susmita Bagchi as the new chairperson of Mo School Abhiyan.