Berhampur: The Ganjam district administration is planning to rope in alumni of various government school to develop these institutions.

The main aim of the initiative is to improve the standard of education in these schools.

"I'm sure former students will support the schools and come forward to develop the institutions where they studied," said district education officer Sanatan Panda.

On Childrens' Day, chief minister Naveen Patnaik had announced "Mo School" initiative under which the state government would support the efforts of the alumni for the development of school infrastructure. The state government will give the double amount of the contribution made by the alumni.

Ganjam has more than 4500 primary and upper primary schools and 700 high schools. The authorities have asked all government schools to form old students association. Ganjam collector Prem Chandra Chowdhary recently asked all the sarpanch in district to donate Rs 1 lakh to the local school from their allotted funds. "The collector requested all the superintendent of police, block level officers to convince their subordinate staff to donate some amount to the schools. It would definitely help the schools to develop," Panda said.

Development plans of the schools through the help from the alumni and others will be implemented from the new academic session, which starts on April 2. Berhampur sub collector Sidharth Shankar Swain, assistant collector D. B. Sindhe and Berhampur Municipal Corporation chairman Chakravorti Singh Rathore sought help for the development of local government schools from eminent persons who were alumni of local government schools.