For the new academic session of 2023-24, the Government of Odisha has considerably expanded the scope of higher education by opening more self-financing, aided and unaided degree colleges. Yet, equity in the sector remains a concern, particularly in the educationally backward blocks, as the state lacks an adequate number of government degree colleges which provide affordable higher education to the poor and tribal students.

Number count
For the upcoming session, 18 new degree colleges have been opened taking the total number of degree colleges in the state to 1,042. But the number of colleges run by the government still stands at 49. The rest are aided and self-financing colleges which charge more fees than the government colleges.

Also, the urban and rural distribution of government colleges is not in accordance with the proportion of students (in the age group of 18-23 years) residing in these areas.

According to the Students Academic Management System (SAMS) data, only 12 per cent of the 49 government colleges are in rural and tribal areas of the state. This despite the fact that the government has been trying to improve the gross enrollment ratio in higher education in backward areas.

Interestingly, Kendrapara, Jagatsinghpur and Jharsuguda districts still do not have any government degree colleges.

The state has 173 educationally backward blocks, of which, 19 do not have any kind of colleges. Besides, 26 blocks have just one college, be it aided, unaided or self-financing. Experts said apart from Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER), equity and access to higher education should be given importance in the current times when the degree education scenario is undergoing a transformation with the introduction of contemporary subjects.

"Government's focus on increasing GER by allowing more private educational institutions to open is a welcome move but it should also consider if the students from rural pockets can afford to study in a self-financing college or pursue a self-financing course by paying more fees," said academician Surendra Jena.

Official sources said the last time government colleges were opened in the state was in 2015 and prior to that, one such college was opened in 1991.

In 2015, eight model (government) degree colleges were opened in the educationally backward districts of:
1) Rayagada
2) Malkangiri
3) Nabarangpur
4) Boudh, Sonepur
5) Deogarh
6) Nayagarh
7) Nuapada

This was under the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA)-1 scheme of the Central government. An amount of Rs 12 crore was spent on the colleges which were funded by both Centre and state in a 60:40 ratio.

Under RUSA-2, five more model degree colleges would open in the state but these are under construction now.

"It requires funds..."
Officials in the Higher Education department, requesting anonymity, said setting up a government college requires funds for infrastructure and manpower, both unavailable with the state government at present.

"So, if a private body is willing to open a self-financing college in a backward district, there is no harm in granting it permission because it would look into its faculty requirement and other modalities," they added.

Meanwhile, the department is considering opening colleges in the 45 (19+26) educationally-backward blocks that are without any college or have just one college, soon.