Education should be linked with emotional, spiritual needs of students: Odisha CM

BHBANESHWAR: Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Saturday said education should be linked with emotional and spiritual needs of students. Inaugurating Utkal Gourav International School at Berunapadi in Keonjhar district through video conferencing, the chief minister said modern education provides knowledge to students for understanding the world and use it for sustaining seamless growth.

“However, as human beings, we also need to look within. We also have our emotional and spiritual needs", he noted. The school is built on the philosophy of Swami Yogananda which aims at intellectual and spiritual education to promote a harmonious life. Congratulating the founders and the mentors for the initiative to transform education, Patnaik said that it is a system of education that aims at the physical, mental and spiritual well-being of the future generation.

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“We must come together to create a model world civilization where each child from the villages and cities in India would be able to develop material efficiency along with spiritual magnificence”, he said. Focusing on the state’s initiative to transform education, Patnaik cited MO School Abhiyan in which former students are being connected to their alma maters for contributing towards the growth of education in their schools.

“The objective is to involve an entire society in our education, our development process. As a society, we all must take responsibility and grow together”, he added. Noting that Odisha is on a mission to provide global standard education to children with the provision of all modern facilities, Patnaik said the state has so far transformed more than 4,000 schools with smart classrooms, modern libraries, laboratories, facilities for sports, and 5T school transformation was in progress in about 3,000 educational institutions.

Mentioning the success of Odisha Adarsh Vidyalayas (OAVs) in promoting quality education among rural children, School and Mass Education Minister SR Dash said about 25,000 students from villages were studying in 314 OAVs.