Odisha to create 40,000 new teaching posts in three years: CM Majhi

Bhubaneswar, Aug 22 (UNI) In a major decision, the Odisha government has announced the creation of 40,000 new teaching posts over the next three years and the provision of free textbooks to all students up to Class X.
Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi made the announcement while reviewing the programmes of the School and Mass Education Department yesterday.
He stressed the importance of strengthening primary education in line with the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, calling it crucial for achieving the goal of a prosperous Odisha by 2036.

Majhi directed officials to focus on ensuring quality education, particularly at the primary level. As part of this initiative, steps will also be taken to regularise schematic primary teachers.
Currently, Odisha has 160,319 teacher posts across 45,292 primary schools.

According to the NEP, an additional 39,366 teachers are required. Moreover, 5,067 posts are expected to fall vacant by December 2025. To address this, the Chief Minister directed that 44,433 posts be filled within three years, with about 15,000 appointments annually.
The meeting also resolved to set up a unified board for school education by merging the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) and the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE).
Another key decision was to extend the free textbook scheme. At present, students from Classes I to VIII receive free textbooks, while only Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe students in Classes IX and X are covered.
Going forward, free textbooks will be provided to all students up to Class X.
To strengthen health facilities in hostels, the government decided to appoint one Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) or multi-purpose health worker for every 300 children.
The Chief Minister also instructed that the approval process for private schools be made entirely online and emphasised teaching tribal children in their mother tongues to improve linguistic communication and learning outcomes.
Additionally, a multilingual education centre will be established in Koraput in collaboration with SCSTRTI.
Majhi announced that trained regular teachers (with B.Ed) will serve as resource persons in clusters to support the education of differently abled children.
The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) will be developed in line with the NCERT framework, while the Directorate of Textbook Publication and Marketing will also be strengthened.
The meeting was attended by School and Mass Education Minister Nityanand Gond, Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Shashwat Mishra, Finance Secretary Sanjiv Mishra, School and Mass Education Secretary Shalini Pandit, OSEPA Director Ananya Das, and other senior officials.