Bhubaneswar: While the Government is in its efforts to improve the quality of education in Odisha, Class 8 students are lagging behind in mathematical calculations like subtraction and division. 

This was revealed by School & Mass Education, ST & SC Development, Minorities & Backward Classes Welfare Minister Nityananda Gond while replying to a question asked by MLA Chakramani Kanhar in Assembly. 

Answring to query in the House, the Minister said that the students at Standard 8 do not know the simple arithmetic operations like subtraction and division. 

As per the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER), only 69.5% students in Class 8 in Odisha schools know substraction and 48.5% know the division in mathmatics, whereas the national average is 68.5% in subtraction and 45.8% in division. 

The number of Class 8 students who are able to do subtraction has increased by nearly 6% in the last decade. The number of Class 8 students who can do division has increased by about 11% in the last decade, the Minister said in the House presenting the survey report. 

However, Odisha's ratio in sustraction and division is higher than the National Average-2024. 

The Class 8 students are being provided best study materials in Odia, Mathematics and English through Learning Enhancement Programme (LEP). This apart, keeping the needs of students in mind, the proposal to provide study materials under Samagra Shiksha programme has been made in the Annual Work Plan and Budget 2025-26, he said. 

At present, there are 12,484 headmaster post (level-III) vacancies in upper primary schools in the state. The said Posts of Headmasters are filled up through promotions which are presently pending in the High Court, Odisha, through WA No.1344/2024, he said.

Replying to the question on school dropout in Odisha, the Minister stated that the present government aims to establish a model primary school in every gran panchayat under Godavarish Mishra Adarsha Primary School (GMAPV) scheme. 

Under the scheme, Rs 11,939.41 crore has been allocated for setting up one Godavarish Mishra Model Primary School (GMAPV) in all 6,794 panchayats of Odisha between 2024-25 and 2028-29 (five years). Of this, Rs 100 crore has been earmarked for the current financial year. The list of any schools to be upgraded has not been finalised. The government has specific guidelines for implementation of the scheme.

As per the Memorandum No. 5538 dated 11.3.2020 issued by the School and Mass Education Department, there is a provision for action by district and state level committees after receiving any proposal for reopening of closed schools in the state.

This year, 16,009 junior teachers have been appointed in government primary and upper primary schools in all the districts. Further, 1798 teachers have been appointed in fully aided high schools. Apart from this, the process of recruitment of 6025 teachers in government high schools, 1375 teachers in government higher secondary schools and 1061 teachers in government aided higher secondary schools in the state is underway.

In addition, the students are being taught in 21 languages in 17 districts through multilingual education in tribal-dominated areas of the state. A total of 3188 multilingual teaching assistants and 143 multilingual education volunteers have been engaged for teaching in these schools, the Minister informed the House.