Improving access to education through establishment of educational Institutions & construction of Hostels for ST & SC Boys & Girls in the State.

Educational development of the ST & SC communities & improving access to educational facilities through residential educational institutions has been an identified thrust area of the Department. Odisha was among the pioneers in setting up of residential educational Institutions with construction of Hostels for ST & SC students being one of the flagship scheme of the Deptt

Over the years, the Department have established 422 Boys High Schools (including 173 for Girls), 62 Higher Secondary Schools, 705 Ashram Schools, 501 Sevashrams, 5 Residential Sevashrams,19 Educational Complexes for providing educational facilities to students belonging to the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs), 10 Kalinga Model Residential Schools,19 Eklavya Model Residential Schools (EMRS) managed by the Odisha Model Tribal Education Society (OMTES), 2 Secondary Teachers' Training School & 1 B.Ed. College.  All educational amenities like school uniforms, reading & writing materials are provided free of cost including exemption from payment of HSC Exam fee as also provision of incidental facilities in the Hostels such as Cots, Blankets, Utensils, Mosquito Nets etc. 

Pre-Matric & Post-Matric Scholarship to ST & SC students:

Payment of Scholarships to eligible ST& SC students is a major flagship programme of the Deptt. Under this scheme, Pre-matric Scholarship is paid to eligible ST & SC Boarders & Day Scholars of SC & SC Dev Deptt Schools as well as students of School & Mass Edn Deptt schools. The funds towards payment of Scholarship to SC/ST students (Day Scholars from VI-VIII & Boarders from Class I to X is fully borne by the State Govt.

Post-Matric Scholarship is paid to eligible ST & SC students through the State Scholarship Portal scholarship.odisha.gov.in to the Bank Account of student beneficiaries.

New Interventions under Educational Development:

(i) ANWESHA – Urban Education Programme for ST &SC children.

In consistent with the objective of providing the best of educational opportunities to ST SC students, State Government has initiated a new scheme from 2015-16 named “ANWESHA” to provide quality education to ST & SC students in partnership with urban educational institutions of the State. The scheme is a pioneering initiative of the State Government to facilitate disadvantaged ST & SC students to receive quality education provided by English Medium Public Schools. Under this scheme, it has been envisaged to admit 5,000 ST & SC students Class -I annually in different Private/ Aided/ Govt Schools of repute located in District headquarters/ Urban areas and to provide them education till their completion of Class X. The entire cost of their education, including tuition fee, uniform, books & study materials, transportation to schools and post-school tutoring is borne by the State Government. State Government has also created facilities for free accommodation and food for the students in different hostels with provision of full time Wardens and Cook-cum-Attendants. The Schools are selected & empanelled by the District Level Committee on the basis of criteria like recognition of school, availability of infrastructure, qualification of Teachers, PTR, academic performance etc. The beneficiary students are selected through a Lottery system by the District Level Committee under the Chairmanship of District Collector.

ANWESHA is currently operational in 17 tribal concentrated districts of the State. During the inaugural year 2015-16, 2708 tribal students were admitted in Class I of different Public Schools. The response during 2016-17 was even better with another 5489 students being admitted in Class I of different public schools. About 135 public schools across 17 districts have currently partnered in the programme. It is expected that this initiative will go a long way in nurturing the inherent talent among ST & SC students and steer them to the spirit of competitiveness and excellence in their student career.

(ii) AKANSHYA – Urban Hostel Complex for Post-matric ST SC students

Over the years, the different interventions of the State Government have greatly contributed in increasing the progression of ST/SC students to Post-matric levels of education. However, the limited presence of higher educational institutions poses a hindrance to poor ST/SC students hailing from remote pockets to continue their higher studies as they have to incur additional expenses towards accommodation and other incidental expenses due to unavailability or limited availability of seats in the hostels of different Institutions in urban areas. Many of the ST/SC students although are able to secure admission in good educational institutions, but are often unable get appropriate seats in hostels. This situation forces them to either opt out of higher education or stay in rented accommodation which further aggravates their economic hardship.

Visualizing this problem faced by ST & SC students, the Department has constructed 2 urban hostel complexes in Bhubaneswar- one at Pokhariput for Girl students and the other at Kalinga Vihar for Boys students in order to facilitate Higher Education for ST & SC students. These hostels having the capacity to accommodate 500 students in the ratio of 80% for STs and 20% for SCs provide accommodation free of cost to the students perusing post-matric Professional, Technical, Degree and +2 courses in institutions located in Bhubaneswar. The Urban Hostel at Pokhariput with 251 girl boarders have been made operational from the academic Year 2016-17 and the Urban Hostel at Kalinga Vihar for Boy Students has been operational since 2017-18. Considering the importance of creating such residential facilities for ST & SC students in other major urban education hubs in the State, another six new Urban Hostels at Berhampur, Sambalpur & Rourkela (2 in each location - one for Boys and one for Girls) has been established during 2020-21.