Odisha Government Proposes Major Reservation Overhaul for Professional Education
The Odisha state government is preparing to implement significant changes to reservation policies for professional education. Officials plan to introduce a new 11.25% quota for Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC) students. They also intend to double the existing reservation percentages for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) candidates.
These changes will affect admissions to medical, engineering and various professional courses. The new reservation structure should take effect from the 2026-27 academic session.
Committee Recommends Uniform Reservation Policy
The Skill Development and Technical Education department's policy planning committee recently held a crucial meeting. Bhupinder Singh Poonia, the SDTE commissioner-cum-secretary, chaired this gathering. Committee members unanimously recommended both the SEBC reservation introduction and the SC/ST quota increases.
MLA Santosh Khatua, who serves on the committee, confirmed the details. "The panel approved 11.25% reservation for SEBC students," Khatua stated. "We also approved increasing total SC/ST reservation in technical and medical education to 38.5% from the current 20%."
The committee will now submit these recommendations to the state government for final approval. Once approved, the 11.25% SEBC reservation will apply across all technical, professional and medical courses.
Background and Current Reservation Structure
This move follows last year's decision to implement 11.25% SEBC reservation in higher education institutions. That change aligned with the National Education Policy-2020 guidelines for the 2025-26 session. Various groups subsequently demanded similar reservation in professional and technical courses.
Currently, engineering and professional course admissions in Odisha feature both vertical and horizontal reservations. Vertical reservations cover SC, ST, OBC and economically weaker section (EWS) categories. Horizontal reservations benefit ex-servicemen, women, persons with disabilities, government school students, orphans under the green passage scheme and green card holders.
The SDTE department presently provides 8% reservation to SC students and 12% to ST students for BTech, MBA, MCA, MTech, MArch and MPlan courses. For diploma engineering courses and the post diploma in industrial safety course, these percentages increase to 16.25% for SC students and 22.5% for ST students.
Specific Changes Across Different Courses
Amiya Kumar Rath, the vice-chancellor of BPUT, explained the proposed changes. "The committee recommended increasing reservation for SC students to 16.25% and for ST students to 22.5% in all courses," Rath said. "The percentages for diploma and PDIS courses will remain unchanged."
For medical stream admissions, the health department currently offers 8% reservation to SC students and 12% to ST students. This applies to medical, dental, pharmacy, Ayurveda and homeopathy courses. Nursing courses already provide 16.25% reservation for SC students and 22.5% for ST students.
The committee recommended increasing reservation percentages for all five medical stream courses. SC candidates would receive 16.25% reservation, while ST candidates would get 22.5%. Nursing course reservations would remain at their current levels.
Committee members stated this move aims to create uniformity in educational reservation policies. They want technical and professional education to align with the higher education department's approach.
