Bhubaneswar, Aug. 3: The state government has decided to get at least 200 government schools accredited by the National Accreditation Board for Education and Training (Nabet).
At least 100 newly-formed model schools and 100 schools under the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) will be accredited by the Nabet by this year, school and mass education minister Debi Prasad Mishra said today.
The accreditation system will ensure that the schools meet the basic infrastructure standards and maintain quality of education. The board will review the schools, in terms of their academic performance, teacher-student ratio, admission process, faculty expertise, and various other factors.
"When you see that an institution is accredited by a recognised authority, you can be sure of its integrity and commitment to its students," said Mishra.
Comprehensive evaluations, including site visits by a team of assessors empanelled by Nabet officials, will be conducted annually once the schools come under the accreditation umbrella.
#The school will be required to apply to Nabet with requisite documents for accreditation. After a comprehensive review following an on-site evaluation of various aspects, the schools will be granted accreditation.
In another development, some 80 Odisha Education Service (OES) qualified candidates were given their appointment letters today. They have been appointed as headmasters in various high schools across the state. The remaining vacancies will be filled up shortly in a phase-wise manner, said Mishra.
"The absence of headmasters is affecting studies. Often the senior-most teacher is given an additional charge of headmaster. The overburdened teacher, unable to cope with additional pressure, is forced to compromise on teaching. Students become the obvious victims of this," said government schoolteacher Suchitra Pushpa.
Some 36,000 positions of teachers are lying vacant in high schools across the state. However, the number of Odisha Teachers' Eligibility Test (Otet) qualified candidates is small, said Mishra. Some 98,500 candidates appeared for the Otet today.
