Bhubaneswar, Dec. 17: The school and mass education department plans to start at least 60 English medium model schools for the academic session 2017-18. With this, the total number of such institutes will be 160 in the state.

A total of 88,318 students had applied for 24,000 seats for classes VI, VII, and VIII in 2016-17. The students were selected through an entrance examination to test their language skills in English and Odia.

On November 28, the state government collaborated with the Tata Steel to set up 30 model schools in seven districts. According to the agreement, the Tata Steel will construct the school buildings having two floors on 12,404sqft.

The approximate cost of construction for each school would be Rs 4 crore.

At present, 117 model schools are under construction in various districts. Of these, the state government is constructing 62, the Tatas 30 and the Odisha Mining Corporation 25 schools.

"About 60 schools would be ready by the end of this year and students can be enrolled from the next academic session," said school and mass education minister Devi Prasad Mishra.

About 100 model schools are functional in 14 districts.