OdishaPlus Bureau
All the 44 tribal hostels run by the State Government have qualified the assessment parameters and were awarded ISO certification and becomes the first state in the country to achieve the distinction. However, another 28 hostels will be assessed after the lockdown and restoration of normalcy post COVID. Notably, the Department of ST & SC Development had launched Mission Suvidya to bring all the tribal hostels of the State to uniform standards of infrastructure, amenities, and human resources.
According to sources, with the help of Quality Control of India, a comprehensive assessment and evaluation of all hostels under ST & SC Welfare Department were conducted with the objective of improving the standard and quality of the hostels to lead them to achieve ISO 9001:2015 Certification.
In the first phase, all the hostels of Keonjhar and Sambalpur districts were taken up for assessment. Out of 156 hostels of Keonjhar, 60 hostels were selected for intensive interventions of gap filling. Similarly, out of 90 hostels of Sambalpur, 12 were selected.
The district teams of Sambalpur and Keonjhar worked hard and in three months’ time complied with the conditions of quality certification. In the month of March, the audit team for the certification was able to visit 32 hostels of Keonjhar and 12 of Sambalpur before the lockdown for final assessment.