More girls’ hostels to come up in Odisha under PM-USHA
BHUBANESWAR: Districts that have witnessed low enrolment of girls and gender parity in higher education, will get more hostels for girl students. The Ministry of Education’s Pradhan Mantri Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (PM-USHA) scheme will facilitate it.
Last month, the state government signed an MoU with the Education Ministry to implement PM-USHA for enhancing the higher education sector. Officials said under the scheme, priority will be given to ‘focus districts’ that have low gender parity and gross enrolment ratio (GER) of girls, transgenders, SCs, STs and OBCs and are aspirational, situated at borders and infected by Maoists.
A key component under PM-USHA is ‘Gender Inclusion and Equity Initiatives’ which is aimed at promoting gender parity and creating a safe and supportive environment for girls and other under-represented groups within the higher educational institutions.
Under this component, all colleges under the regional education directorates of Sambalpur, Berhampur, Jeypore and Balasore were asked by the Higher Education department on Tuesday to submit their proposals for setting up hostels for girl students.
