Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Wednesday launched a campaign to increase the number of students in the state's primary schools.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik launched the campaign - Sabu Din School - in which panchayats will be rewarded if a school under it has 100 per cent attendance. The school land mass education department will host awareness camps for the purpose.

Odisha has 2,335 primary schools with fewer than 15 students. In 2016-17, as many as 828 government primary and upper primary schools were shut down in Odisha for having less than 10 students each. In 2014, 195 schools in the state with less than five students were served show-cause notices.

In another development, the Medical Council of India (MCI) has granted permission to the Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital, Rourkela, to admit 100 students. Hi-Tech Medical College and Hospital, Rourkela, was last year barred from admitting students for two years after the MCI found it wanting in its infrastructure.