File picture of a high school in Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, July 21: The department of school and mass education has taken up the construction of 700 high schools in the state proposed under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan on a war footing.

A secondary school will be constructed within 5km of every village or hamlet, says the proposal. Officials in the department said the construction of 75 high schools have been completed and work on 304 more are being carried out. Officials are also working to identify site for 82 high schools.

At present, there are about 7,800 high schools in the state.

The Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan scheme aims to provide secondary education to everyone so that children are able to complete their Class IX and X as a continuation of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

The objective of the scheme is to achieve a general enrolment ratio of 75 per cent for the two classes within 2017 by providing a secondary school within a reasonable distance of every locality.

Bes ides construction of new schools and renovation of old schools, work is on to improve infrastructure such as building new classrooms with furniture, setting up libraries, science laboratories, computer rooms and toilet facilities.

In a review earlier this week, chief minister Naveen Patnaik asked authorities concerned to complete the site selection process and award tenders for construction of the projects within three months.

The department is also trying to finish construction work of model schools by October, which are to be set up in 111 backward blocks of the state.

“Apart from this, we are preparing guidelines for setting up the State Institute of Open Schooling to educate children who do not have regular school education. The state government has assigned the work to the Odisha Knowledge Corporation Limited to provide education through information, communication and technology medium,” said an official of the department.