Dikhyaa Mohanty 
The state of Odisha’s administration has resolved to treat private and unaided schools that teach in the Odia language equally to government schools by offering free textbooks to its students. The program has been implemented as part of the government’s 5T plan.
The program will be put into effect beginning with the 2024–25 school year. Students in grades 1 through 8 will get free textbooks from the state government. More than 5 lakh children from 3,620 private and unaided schools in the state would benefit, according to the government. The state government has set aside Rs 9.43 crore annually for this.
A Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) press release in this connection read, “The children studying in private Odia medium schools have been performing well in the annual high school certificate examination and have also been demonstrating their skills in various fields. The state government has already been providing free textbooks to students of all government schools in the state and free textbooks to Odia children in states like West Bengal, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat.”
