BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SCHEME / INTERVENTION
- Free Text Books are provided to the focus group children (all SC/ST and General Girls) from class I to VIII reading in Govt. and Govt. Aided Primary and Upper Primary Schools of the State under Sarva Shikshya Abhiyan (SSA).
- The printing and supply of Text Book for the current academic session is determined in the State Level Coordination Committee chaired by the Principal Secretary, School and Mass Education Deptt. prior to the commencement of the academic session. As per the decision of the committee, the work is entrusted to the Director, Text Book Production and Marketing, Govt. of Odisha to print and supply of NT books from class I-VIII to print and supply of Text Books to 30 Districts.
- OPEPA placed the indent to the TBP&M as per DISE for timely printing and supply of free text books to the block points and NAC/Municipality. After receipt of books from TBPM the BEOs of the concerned block distributed the books to the school points. OPEPA bears the cost of text book of all SC/ST and General Girls only from cl I to VII and all students of class VIII. The Govt. bears the cost of books for general boy’s student from class I to class VII..
- All Textbooks from I to VIII have been developed by Dir. TE & SCERT in consultation with NCF – 2005 and SCF – 2007. A rigorous process of inculcating all the characteristics of NCF – 2005 has been taken into consideration while prepared in the textbook. The Books are printed by TBP&M, Odisha and being distributed to various blocks on or before 31st March every year.
- The Text Book of all the classes are designed in such a manner that the TLMs and workbook are integrated to ensure they do not become a burden on the child.
- The language of textbooks is Odia for all students except the English subject. However, separate Text Book in language have been prepared for Bengali and Urdu students as per their Mother Tongue. The Telugu Books received from Andhra Pradesh are distributed to the Telugu Students.
- The medium of instruction at primary and upper primary levels is odia.
Under Multilingual Education (MLE) Programme, textbooks of 21 Tribal Language have been provided to the students of tribal areas where the texts are developed based on the Tribal Language and culture and the script used is Odia (20 tribal languages) except for Santali language. In Santali language Olchiki script has been used. The tribal language textbooks are developed for Class I to Class V children and distributed among the students of MLE adopted schools.
As per the above table, the average cost of Text Books at the Primary level is Rs.459.00, and at Upper Primary level it is Rs.762.00.
