The Naveen Patnaik Government on Tuesday moved to reserve 15% of seats in medical and technical education courses for students passing out from government high schools.
A resolution in this regard was tabled in the Assembly for acceptance of the House. The State government said the reservation was aimed at addressing inequity prevailing in students groups.
“After introduction of common entrance exam like the National cum Eligibility Entrance Test and Joint Entrance Examination, the number of students from government schools and colleges of our State in these courses is getting reduced considerably. This is not due to lack of merit, rather the students are unable to fare better in these tests due to lack proper coaching facilities,” the resolution says.
It says such common entrance tests require specialised training which is available only in coaching centres which are mostly urban-based and require considerable finances.
Holding that students studying in government schools and colleges lack both physical and economic access to coaching centres, the State Cabinet had resolved to reserve adequate number of seats for students of government high schools in medical and engineering colleges of the State.
Subsequently, a high powered committee headed by Justice Dr. A.K. Mishra, retired judge of the Orissa High Court along with other members, was constituted for making necessary recommendation in this regard.
As per the observation of the committee, about 86% of students of Odisha are in government schools and they get 23% seats in the State medical colleges and 21% seats in engineering colleges. However, 12% of students studying in private schools get almost 60% seats in both medical and engineering colleges.
“This clearly shows that there inequity arising from physical and economic access to coaching institutions which play a major role in the national entrance examinations. This inequity affects a majority of students,” the resolution says.
The State government will issue necessary notification by exercising power under Section 9 of the Odisha Professional Educational Institute (Regulation and Admission and Fixation of Fees) Act, 2007, to implement the reservation.
