Berhampur, Feb. 26: The Assembly's linguistic minority committee visited Andhra Pradesh on a two-day trip to look into problems faced by students in Odia medium schools there.

Committee chairman Ramesh Chandra Chayu Patnaik said: "The committee visited schools in Andhra's Srikakulam and Visakhapatnam districts during the two-day trip and held discussions with officials concerned."

V. Sugnani Deo, Debaraj Mohanty and Purna Chandra Swain are also part of the committee.

"We discussed issues such as shortage of textbooks, including Telugu books in Odisha and Odia books in Andhra Pradesh, as well as staff crunch in these schools," he said.

The committee is expected to submit a report regarding students of linguistic minorities in the bordering areas of south Odisha and Andhra Pradesh on March 15.

Based on the report, the Assembly will initiate steps to ensure better education facilities in the state's Telugu medium schools and the Odia medium schools in Andhra Pradesh, Patnaik said.

Before visiting Andhra Pradesh, the committee members had visited the Telugu medium schools across the state and held discussions with Utkal Sammilani president Guru Prasad Mohanty.

The organisation played a key role in the formation of Odisha on linguistic basis and promotes Odia language and culture among Odias in the bordering states.

"The Odia students in Andhra are compelled to study every subject in Telugu other than first language Odia after the state government abolished Hindi. As a result, their performances in examinations have gone down significantly. But, we still continue with Hindi as a medium language for teaching Telugu students in Odisha," Mohanty said.

Andhra Bhasha Vibardhani Samajam president P. Satyanarayan Babu also held discussions with the members of the committee yesterday.