Bhubaneswar, July 14 (IANS). Odisha Higher Education Minister Suryavanshi Suraj on Tuesday released guidelines for implementing ‘Gyanodya Scheme’. This is a major initiative under which free education will be provided from Kindergarten (KG) to Post-Graduate (PG) level.
Speaking to IANS, Minister Suryavanshi Suraj said that the Chief Minister had announced free education from KG to PG and now the Higher Education Department has issued necessary orders for Undergraduate (UG) and Postgraduate (PG) programs under its jurisdiction. All eligible programs except self-financing and PPP-mode courses are covered under the scheme.
Speaking at a press conference about the scheme, Minister Suryavanshi said that many students in the state are not able to pursue higher education due to financial constraints. He said that after taking charge of the Higher Education Department, the state government was most concerned about the rising dropout rate in the state, Odisha’s gross enrollment ratio being lower than the national average and inability to retain students in studies.
The minister said that one result was that higher education should be accessible to all. The main objective of this initiative to make education free from KG to PG is to ensure that no one is deprived of basic higher education.
Explaining the guidelines of this initiative, he said that these instructions will be shared with all the educational institutions under the Higher Education Department across the state. As per the guidelines of the scheme, the objective of this initiative is to ensure that no deserving student is deprived of education due to financial constraints and also to promote equitable and inclusive access to higher education for all.
The minister said that under this scheme, students taking admission in regular undergraduate and postgraduate programs in the state’s public universities, government colleges and non-government aided colleges falling under 488 and 662 grant-in-aid categories will not have to pay any fees.
The objective of this scheme implemented by the Higher Education Department is to remove the financial barriers to education in accordance with the National Education Policy 2020, to retain students in studies and to reduce the dropout rate.
The Minister also expressed confidence that the ‘Gyanodaya – Shiksharu Samriddhi’ initiative will help in achieving the target of increasing Odisha’s Gross Enrollment Ratio to 60 per cent, as envisioned under Odisha Vision 2036 and Vision 2047.
However, the scheme will not be applicable to self-financing courses, unaided private institutions, distance and open learning programmes, or MBA, MCA, BBA, BCA, B.Ed, LLB, LLM and other similar professional courses.
To avail the benefits of this scheme, students will have to enroll through the Student Academic Management System portal and maintain at least 75 percent attendance. In special cases, the attendance requirement can be reduced to 65 percent. This benefit will be available to a student only when he takes admission in undergraduate or postgraduate program for the first time. He also informed that under this scheme, the state government will bear the expenses of admission and re-admission fees, development fees and other charges taken at the time of admission.
However, to maintain the rigor of the examinations, students will have to continue paying the examination fees.
The government has also implemented a fee regulation system, under which institutions cannot change the admission fees without the approval of the State Fee Regulation Committee. Only that fee structure which was uploaded on the portal before the admission process will be considered for refund of fees.
The minister said Odisha is the first state to implement free education from KG to PG under the ‘Gyanodya-Shiksha Rs Samriddhi’ scheme.
–IANS
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