Over 950 primary schools to be closed in Odisha owing to poor student strength

Odisha government has decided to shut down nearly a 1000 primary schools in the state owing to poor strength of students in them. “Schools with less than 10 students will be closed. Students will be shifted to another school within 1 km. They will be paid allowance for transportation and escort,” School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Das told ANI. The students will be given allowance according to their attendance and higher the allowance, the more they will be paid for travel allowance. “For travel allowance, students with over 75% attendance will be paid Rs 600/month while those with 50-74% attendance will get Rs 400/month. Students with 30-49% attendance will get Rs 300/month while those with less than 30% attendance won't get anything,” Das added.