A hostel of SC/ST students in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Oct. 2: Meritorious students belonging to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities will shortly get a chance to study at some of the best private schools in the state.

These students, who are often at a disadvantage due to their location or economic status, will be accommodated in “urban hostels” being set up in Bhubaneswar, Berhampur and Rourkela by the ST and SC development department. As many as seven urban hostel complexes, each having 300 seats, are under construction.

The department has already prepared a tentative list of schools where the students will study.

The list includes some of the top-notch private schools, including KIIT International School, Sai International School, Delhi Public School-Kalinga in Bhubaneswar and the one in Rourkela, besides the DAV schools in all the three cities. The aim of the scheme is to provide quality education to deserving students from Class I to Class XII.

A special entrance test will be conducted in various districts for admission into these hostels.

“The selected students will be the ambassadors for their respective villages and will inspire others to excel and make use of this scheme to realise their ambitions,” said an official of the department.

The students will be provided facilities of special coaching classes for entrance exams besides training to improve their communication and personality development skills.

In Bhubaneswar, the hostels are being constructed in Pokhariput, Chandrashekharpur and Kalinga Vihar areas. However, construction at Berhampur and Rourkela has been delayed due to various reasons.

A budget of Rs 21 crore has been sanctioned for the project out of which only Rs 8 crore has been spent so far, said a senior officer.

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik, who recently reviewed the progress of the construction of these urban hostels, has directed the officials to expedite the work.

The ST and SC development department has constructed around 1,500 hostels during the past three years and 1,000 more are in various stages of completion, informed the official.

“Another 1,000 hostels have been sanctioned for this year. Of them, work for 110 complexes has been started,” he said.