Odisha: Senior officers discuss Naveen Patnaik’s vision to create ‘New Odisha’ for next generation

Bhubaneswar: The session by the School and Mass Education Department and the Sports and Youth Services Department focused on the topic “Create a New Odisha: Dreams of the Gen X”. Initiating the deliberations, the Commissioner cum Secretary, Department of School and Mass Education, Aswathy S elaborated on the vision of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to create New Odisha for the next generation. He firmly believes that Odisha has the potential to become a knowledge-based society and economy, which will fulfill the dreams and aspirations of the next generation. Therefore, education is a major focus area in the transformative initiatives of the Chief Minister.

Aswathy highlighted the significant achievements of the High School Transformation Programme under 5T. The first two phases of the programme saw infrastructural upgradation in 3981 schools. After the initial success, transformation of 2324 schools are currently taken up in the third phase. The main components of the programme have been Smart classrooms, e-library, science laboratory, provision of drinking water facility, separate toilets for boys and girls, sports facilities and vibrant school ambience. The 5T HST programme has been achieved with overwhelming community connections through Mo School Abhiyan.

Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya which had a humble beginning has shown exponential expansion in the last couple of years. Today, Odisha has 314 OAVs providing quality education to meritorious children across the State. The outstanding results secured by the students of OAV in the Board examination last year, stand testimony to this.

The introduction of new-age smart learning methods have uplifted the learning outcomes of high school students. Odisha has seen an improvement in the PGI ranking and the recent ASER report has highlighted higher levels of student enrolment in Odisha.

This was followed by deliberations on how the state is trying to build on the foundations laid by the 5T transformation ecosystem. The secretary explained the new initiatives taken by the department in this regard. The aspirational curriculum will be further strengthened. The coming academic year will witness introduction of Academic Calendar, Student diary to increase the communication between teachers and parents, introduction of reference books for project works, stress on 21st-century skills, integration of vocation training into the curriculum, introduction of coding clubs and labs for AI/ML (artificial intelligence and machine learning). In addition, steps would also be taken to expedite teacher recruitment at all levels.

District magistrates of Bargarh, Sonepur and Nayagarh presented how each district would take steps to align with the vision at the state level. Each of the young collectors deliberated on how to identify the needs of the district and adopting relevant strategies suitable to local challenges and opportunities.

Secretary of Sports and Youth Services, R. Vineel Krishna, elaborated on the Chief Minister’s vision on creating a new identity for Odisha through Sports and productively engaging the youth through sports as a major platform. The Chief Minister desires that Odisha should become a health, fitness and sports-oriented society. And therefore, in the last few years the state government has been investing in creating massive infrastructure, organizing national and international sports championships, unique models of coaching in partnership with corporates and elite sportspersons etc. The successful organisation of the Hockey World Cup recently is a prime example of the team work of the State Government, wherein all the departments and districts put up a grand show which brought laurels to the state and country.

Odisha is investing more than Rs 2500 crores in sports infrastructure which includes 90 indoor stadiums in ULBs, India’s first indoor Athletic Stadium, indoor aquatic center, High performance centers for Hockey, badminton, weightlifting, gymnastics, athletics, etc. , Hockey training centers, Football training centers, Swimming Training centers, Gymnastics Training centers etc.

MD IDCO Bhupendar Poonia explained on how the World’s largest all-seated Hockey Stadium Birsa Munda Hockey Stadium, Rourkela – was created within a short period of 15 months in spite of various challenges. He mentioned that this was only possible due to the determination of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik to create the best stadium for Hockey in Rourkela, which is the heartland for hockey in Odisha. The Stadium has been praised by the entire Hockey World for its facilities and great ambiance for the spectators and the players.