By Bizodisha Bureau, Bhubaneswar, June 22, 2019: The Odisha government on Saturday announced to provide transportation cost to students who stay more than a kilometer away from their schools in a bid to improve attendance in schools.

However, this comes with a rider because only students with an attendance of more than 30 percent will get the transportation allowance, officials said.

The decision was taken at review meeting chaired by School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash.

“If the distance exceeds one km, travel expense will be given to parents of the children,” the minister said. He said the cash incentive will be given to parents for 10 months in a year.

Students having more than 75 per cent attendance will get Rs 600 per month as travel expense, while students with 50 to 75 per cent attendance will get Rs 400 per month, officials said. Similarly, Rs 300 will be given to students with attendance between 50 to 70 percent, the minister said, adding, no transportation cost will be provided to students with less than 30 per cent attendance.

The government has also decided to close down 966 schools across the state since there are less than 10 students in each of these schools. The students of these schools will be relocated to other schools.