Amid Printing Errors Row, Odisha Okays ₹284-Cr Free Textbook Scheme

14 Oct 2026, 09:03 by Vinay Kakkad · KalingaTV

Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government has approved a ₹284.07-crore scheme to distribute free textbooks to approximately 28.7 lakh secondary school students across the state, expanding educational support to high school classes even as an administrative controversy brews over errors in official learning materials.

The decision was ratified during a state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, with Chief Secretary Anu Garg announcing the rollout details to the press.

Scope and Beneficiary Coverage

The initiative covers Class 9 and Class 10 pupils enrolled in all state-run and government-aided secondary institutions across Odisha.

While students belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes were already receiving textbooks free of cost under existing welfare guidelines, the newly sanctioned program bridges the gap by extending the entitlement to all remaining eligible students in these grades.

Target Population: Roughly 28.7 lakh beneficiaries tentatively identified across the state.
Duration: A five-year window spanning academic sessions 2025–26 through 2029–30.
Financial Outlay: An estimated commitment of ₹284.07 crore from state funds.

The policy framework is designed to relieve the household financial burden on economically vulnerable families, boost secondary enrollment, curb dropout figures, and improve student progression rates moving out of the elementary stage.

Strict Procurement Rules and Field Validation

Addressing operational management, the state mandated that the entire delivery pipeline—encompassing paper sourcing, press runs, transportation, and final distribution to schools—must strictly adhere to the Odisha General Financial Rules alongside statutory procurement standards through open and transparent competitive bidding.

The School and Mass Education Department has been tasked with:

Establishing a dedicated ground-level mechanism to collect, verify, and validate beneficiary records before allocation.
Enforcing printing and logistics schedules to ensure all study materials arrive at schools well before classes commence for each academic term.

The major welfare rollout arrives at a politically sensitive moment for the state’s education administration.