Bhubaneswar, March 9: The state government has decided to offer “Pathani Samanta scholarships” to encourage rural talents who excel in mathematics and science.
Named after eminent astronomer Pathani Samanta, this incentive will be provided by the school and mass education department from next year onwards.
All poor, meritorious students in rural Oriya medium government schools, both aided and unaided, are expected to be covered under this scheme. For this purpose, an amount of Rs 20 crore has been sanctioned, informed school and mass education minister Pratap Jena.
“Promising talents in our rural schools, who perform well in mathematics and science subjects, will benefit from this merit-based scholarship. A total of 4,440 students between Classes VI to XII can apply under this scheme. This move has been made for the rapid progress of state literacy levels and to motivate the students to strive for excellence,” said Jena.
To filter out the deserving candidates, a selection procedure will be conducted in three stages for students from classes VI to XII. A total of 3140 students (10 from each block) in classes VI, VII and VIII would be selected who would receive an annual scholarship amount of Rs 200.
While a total of 1,000 students from Classes IX and X will be eligible for a yearly boost of Rs 300, those in Classes XI and XII, which is 300 students, will be provided Rs 500.
Dishonest means
In another development, Jena said students caught adopting dishonest means during the annual High School Certificate (H.S.C.) examinations would be severely punished. The examinations under the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) for Class X students in the state is scheduled to begin from March 16.
He said his department is gearing up to ensure the examinations are conducted in a fair manner.
Around 76 squads at the district inspector (DI) level and 27 special squads under the BSE have been constituted for this reason. Besides students involved in malpractices, Jena said action also would be initiated against the invigilator and centre superintendent concerned.
This year, over 4.85 lakh students, including 4. 35 lakh regular, from 8207 high schools would appear for the exam throughout the state.
