Aparajita Sarangi. Telegraph picture

Sambalpur, April 21: State school and mass education department’s secretary Aparajita Sarangi, who was on a school inspection visit here, has expressed satisfaction over the implementation of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in the district.

Addressing the media at the conference hall of the district collector’s office this afternoon, Sarangi said: “I personally visited six schools here and I am happy to note the commendable progress that has been made in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in Sambalpur district. Out of the total 30 districts, it is the sixth best in the state.”

A 20-member team led by Sarangi covered schools of almost all the blocks except Naktideul. She said while 90 per cent of the schools had constituted their own managing committees, around 85 per cent had school management development committees.

The school and mass education department has set 80 parameters for ranking schools of the state, which have been divided into five categories. The first category is the environment of the school in which Sambalpur has been placed at the ninth position in the state. “It stands at seventh best in co-curricular programme category and 10th best in curricular programme category,” she said.

Taking all parameters into consideration, Sambalpur has been ranked an overall sixth in the state. “All the collectors have been apprised of the 18 thrust areas for development of schools which will be reviewed by the collectors themselves,” said Sarangi.

The secretary also mentioned that the attendance of teachers in Sambalpur is 89 per cent, whereas the attendance of students stood at 78.65 per cent. “All the schools will get a grant of Rs 75,000 under the Ama Vidyalaya scheme. All students belonging to SC/ST categories and BPL families would be provided with two pairs of school uniform and shoes from the next academic session. On this account, the state would spend Rs 700 on each student,” she added. Earlier, only girl students were entitled to get school uniforms.

Sarangi also mentioned that out of the 187 vacant posts of shiksha sahayaks in Sambalpur, 176 have been filled so far. “Para-teachers have already joined work. Rest of the vacancies would also be filled soon,” she added. She said the government would look into the problems of teachers and students in Rengali, which despite being a block under Sambalpur, falls within Jharsuguda circle.