Bhubaneswar, Jun 22 (IANS): The Odisha government on Saturday decided to shut down 966 schools across the state that have less than 10 students each.

The government also decided to provide transport cost for students of the closed schools if they go to nearby schools with distance exceeding one km.

"Students of the schools which will be shut down for having less than 10 students will be accommodated to another school within 1 km. The students will be paid transportation allowance if the distance exceeds one kilometre," informed School and Mass Education Minister Samir Ranjan Dash.

The cash amount will be given to the parents for 10 months in a year, informed Dash.

As per the decision, a student will be entitled to get Rs 600 per month for 10 months totalling Rs 6,000 annually if his or her attendance is more than 75 per cent.

Students with 50 to 75 per cent attendance will get Rs 400 per month totalling Rs 4,000 and students with 30 to 50 per cent attendance will get Rs 3,00 per month totalling Rs 3,000.

No transportation allowance will be provided if the attendance of a student is less than 30 per cent.