The State Resource Centre (SRC) for adult education, established by former Chief Minister Nabakrushna Choudhury and Malati Devi, is likely to be closed soon.
Sources said that Central Government has stopped releasing fund to the SRC, which was set up for spreading literacy. The Union Government had constituted SRCs in the 1970s in each State.
The Odisha SRC was established at Angul in 1978. Initially, the SRC managed by the Naba Jeevan Mandal was playing a key role as the messenger of literacy throughout the State. later, the organisation undertook many awareness programmes along with the task of promotion of Odia language apart from spread of literacy.
With the effort of the then Chief Minister JB Patnaik, the SRC was relocated to Bhubaneswar from Angul. The Government provided land and house to the SRC near the State Secretariat.
Currently, the SRC is being managed by the School and Mass Education Department. While the Secretary of DoSME is the Chairperson of the organisation, a managing board has been constituted for its effective management. The Government also appoints an experienced person as the Director of the SRC.
The Central Government allocates `70 lakh to the SRC per annum out of which `35 lakh is spent towards employees’ salaries and various programmes are organised with the remaining amount.
However, the Union Government allocated only Rs 35 lakh last year, and this year no amount has been released by it towards management of the organisation. Rather, the Centre asked the State Government for expenditure seeking explanation about the appointment of its Director and constitution of managing board.
Notably, the SRC has a major responsibility in executing the Centre’s National literacy Mission in the State. It imparts training to the coordinators and other officials along with preparing guidelines for 19 districts under the scheme. It also provides various self-employment trainings and conducts literacy tests in districts.
Currently, the Central Givernment has directed the SRC to make the villages 100-per cent literate under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana. Despite all the responsibilities and assignments, the Centre is allocating no fund for the organisation.
The post of Director has been lying vacant for a long time. Moreover, the School & Mass Education official, who has been given the additional duty for management of the SRC, is unable to carry out his assignment due to his busy schedule.
In such a situation, the SRC is likely to be closed down completely. According to many, the State Government should plan out ways to get funds from Centre for functioning of the organisation.
