Bhubaneswar, Aug 22: In a major decision, the Odisha Government has decided to merge the Board of Secondary Education (BSE) and the Council of Higher Secondary Education (CHSE) into one board.

The decision was revealed by School and Mass Education Minister Nityananda Gond, following a high-level review meeting chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi at Lok Seva Bhawan.

The Minister revealed that 15,000 teachers will be recruited every year and total of 44,433 posts to filled up in three years.

The merger aims to streamline governance and bring greater coherence to the state’s school education system, which currently operates under two separate boards for Classes 1–10 and Classes 11–12 respectively.

Meanwhile, free textbooks are currently provided up to Class 8, and for SC/ST students in Classes 9 and 10, from now all students up to Class 10 will receive free textbooks.

The government will also upgrade the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) along the lines of NCERT and further strengthen the Directorate of Textbook Publication and Marketing.

To safeguard student health, one ANM or multipurpose health worker will be appointed for every 300 hostel students. All approvals for new private schools will be processed through a fully online system.

During the review meeting, Chief Minister Majhi emphasised the importance of teaching tribal children in their native languages.

To support this initiative, a Multilingual Education Centre will be established in Koraput in partnership with SCSTRTI.

Additionally, trained teachers holding B.Ed degrees in Special Education will be appointed as Resource Persons across various clusters to promote inclusive education.

The meeting also decided that all future educational reforms will focus equally on learning quality and student well-being.