CBSE

The eighth regional office of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will be inaugurated by Arjun Singh, Union Minister of Human Resource Development (HRD) in Bhubaneswar on February 12.

The Bhubaneswar centre will benefit at least 120,000 students of about 650 schools in three states of Chhattisgarh, Orissa and West Bengal.

"We have decided to establish the eight regional centre of the CBSE in Orissa for the benefit of schools of three eastern states affiliated to the board," said a CBSE official.

"The centre will initially function from a rented building. The centre will be shifted to a permanent building though the site is yet to be finalized", the official added.

"With its office here, the CBSE will be able to keep a close eye on the schools in these states and thus improving the standard of education in these states," he said.

"It is a great relief for all of us," said K.C. Satpathy, principal of D.A.V. Public School here, adding they had to travel all the way to the Allahabad centre even for "small works".

As the board examinations will be conducted by the Bhubaneswar centre, the school principal said, it would help them a lot to sort out technical difficulties and errors quickly.

In addition to the inauguration of the eight centre of CBSE, the foundation stone of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar will also be laid down by Arjun Singh on the same day.

Earlier this programme was scheduled to be held on February 11. The foundation stone of the IIT will be laid down at the construction site situated few kilometers south of Bhubaneswar at KANSAPADA (Khudupur-Taraboi Road) near Jatni Block Office, Khordha.

This new IIT at Bhubaneswar is part of the 8 new IITs that have been established in the country by the MHRD during the XI Plan. The IIT-Bhubaneswar has already commenced its academic activities from 2008-2009 session from the campus of IIT Kharagpur.

The 7 other new IITs have been set up in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan, Punjab, Gujrat, Madhya Pradesh (Indore) and Himachal Pradesh. An allocation of Rs.2,000 crores has been provided in the XI Plan and Rs.50 crores has been allocated for 2008-09 for new IITs.

Orissa is also to get a new Central University under the Central Universities Ordinance, 2009 which was promulgated by the President of India on January 15, 2009.

The Central Government has laid great emphasis on the advancement of Higher Education during the XI Plan for which the outlays have been increased by 10 times when compared to the X Plan outlays.

This higher allocation is being used for the creation of 30 Central Universities including 14 new National (World Class) universities; 8 new IITs; 7 new IIMs; 5 new Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs); 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs); 2 new Schools of Planning & Architecture; 10 new NITs, Central assistance for establishing 1000 new polytechnics, including through PPP mode, strengthening of 500 existing polytechnics, etc.www.uniqueinstitutes.org