Bhubaneswar: Odisha government considering a proposal to reserve 15% seats in medical and engineering colleges for government school students.
A high power committee headed by retired judge of Odisha high court Dr. AK Mishra, appointed by the State government, has recommended for 15% reservation for government school students in medical and engineering colleges.
The Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik Tuesday appalled the members of Odisha assembly to unanimously resolve to accept this recommendations of the high powered committee for the greater interetest of the students of the State.
After introduction of entrance examinations like NEET and JEE, the number of students from government schools and colleges of our State in these courses is getting reduced considerably.
This is not due to Jack of merit, rather the students are unable to fare better in these tests due to lack of proper coaching facilities. Such common entrance tests require specialized training which is available only in
in coaching centres.
Such coaching centres are mostly urban based and
require considerable finances.
Students studying in government schools and
colleges lack both physical and economic access to coaching centres.
This has resulted in inequitable conditions for a majority of the students of Odisha.
In this backdrop the Odisha government has resolved to reserve adequate number of seats for the students of government high schools in medical and engineering
colleges of the State.
A High-Powered Committee headed by retired judge of Odisha high court Dr. A.K. Misra was constituted for making necessary recommendations in this regard. The High Power Committee after thoroughly
studying the situation and analysing it, has come out with the following findings and recommendations:
• About 86% of the students in Odisha are in government schools and they get 23% seats in State
Medical colleges and 21% seats in State engineering
colleges.
• While 12% of the students studying in private schools get almost 60% seats in both Medical and tyecti
Engineering Colleges.
This clearly shows that there is inequity arising from I the
physical and economic access to coaching institutions which plays a major role in national entrance examinations. This inequality effects majority of the students.
To address this issue the committee has recommended the following:
- 15% (fifteen percentage) reservation to be extended in favour of the students of Government High Schools in the admission to Medical and Technical Education courses of the State.
- Such reservation is to operate horizontally covering all vertical reservations as well as general unreserved groups. The government can issue notification in exercise powers under Section 9 of Odisha Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) Act, 2007 to give effect to the above.
