Bhubaneswar: In a major move to promote students passing out of government-run high schools, the state cabinet Monday passed a resolution to reserve some seats in medical and engineering colleges for these students.
Briefing the media, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha said, after introduction of centralized exams like NEET and JEE for medical and engineering courses, it is observed that the number of meritorious students from government-run high schools and colleges in Odisha, qualifying for admissions in these institutions, has been coming down over the years.
This is not due to lack of meritorious students but a deeper divide in access to coaching classes which is missing in rural areas, he said.
It is a fact that these centralized competitive exams require special skill sets which are imparted mainly through coaching centres and online coaching classes. As such centres are limited to mostly urban pockets and there exists a high economic cost for access to such facilities, thousands of meritorious students from government schools are at a disadvantage and fare lower than their potential in the entrance exams.
“To correct this imbalance and provide confidence to meritorious students of government schools, to help them fulfill their dreams to become doctors and engineers, the state government has decided to provide reservation to eligible government school and college students of Odisha for admission into medical and engineering colleges in the state. This will be applicable from the next academic year,” the minister said.
To finalise the modalities for implementation of the above in-principle decision, a high powered committee headed by a retired judge of the Orissa High Court will be constituted with eminent persons including educationists as members. The committee will be mandated to submit the report within three months so that the recommendations can be implemented from the next academic year. The state cabinet has approved a proposal for mandatory submission of annual property lists for elected representatives and government employees.
“The state government is committed to provide a transparent and corruption-free administration to the people of Odisha. It has also taken various important steps in this direction. In democracy, accountability is of paramount importance. Our fight against corruption will be successful in eliminating many of our maladies in society like inequality, injustice and poverty,” Arukha said.
The uncompromising fight against corruption has brought laurels to the state. Hence, going a step ahead, the state government Monday decided that submission of property statement will now be made mandatory for all public representatives starting from the level of sarpanchs to the Chief Minister, he said.
Similarly, it has also been made mandatory for all government servants starting from the entry level to the Chief Secretary to submit their property lists, the minister said. It was decided that the property statements will be made available in public domain and a copy of the property statement of public representatives and the government servants will be sent to the Lokayukta every year, Arukha added.