Odisha to provide free engineering, medical coaching to SC, ST students

The ST and SC Development Department of the Odisha government will open seven Centres of Excellence in SC and ST schools across the state where 320 such students will be provided free education every year.  

Chatra Protsahan Yojana

The Odisha government has launched ‘Chatra Protsahan Yojana’ (CPY) to provide free coaching for medical and engineering entrance examinations to students belonging to Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (SC/ST) in the state. The ST and SC Development Department of the Odisha government will open seven Centres of Excellence in SC and ST schools across the state where 320 such students will be provided free education every year. These centres will encourage the students of higher secondary schools towards higher education. The aim is to identify and nurture the potential ST/SC students from a young age for higher education in medical and engineering, the government said.  

Selection process 

Students will be selected on the basis of Class X merit and a selection test from among the students who have passed matric from SSD High Schools. Every year, more than 30,000 ST/SC students appear in the Annual of Higher Secondary School Examination.  

Several agreements are signed with the coaching agencies selected for this programme. These agencies will be providing on-site medical and engineering coaching and preparatory training to the selected ST/SC students in the proposed Centres of Excellence. 

During the event organised to inaugurate the scheme, Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Dr Amar Patnaik handed over 200 tablets from the MPLAD funds for the students who will be undergoing the programme. He tweeted, “Was delighted to hand over 200 tablets from MPLAD for meritorious SC & ST students of our state who would be given specialised coaching for engineering & medical examinations under Chatra Protshahan Scheme of GoO,” Dr Amar Patnaik tweeted. 

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