Govt notifies ST, SC, SEBC reservation for professional courses

Bhubaneswar: The state govt has notified the increased reservation for ST, SC and new quota for SEBC students for admission to professional educational institutes across Odisha.An order issued by the Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes Development department stated that the decision was taken earlier this year following recommendations of the policy planning body under the Odisha Professional Educational Institutions (Regulation of Admission and Fixation of Fee) Act, 2007.Under the revised policy, the reservation for Scheduled Tribe (ST) has been increased from 12% to 22.50%, Scheduled Caste (SC) from 8% to 16.25% and a new 11.25% reservation introduced for SEBC students.The new reservation structure will be applicable across a wide range of professional courses, including engineering, technology, management, medicine, dental sciences, nursing, pharmacy, veterinary sciences, agriculture, architecture, polytechnics, ITIs and other professional programmes offered by institutions under various state govt departments.The revised reservation policy will come into effect from the new 2026-27 academic session, paving the way for greater representation of tribal, scheduled caste and socially and educationally backward communities in higher and professional education across the state.The govt clarified that the revised reservation percentages will be implemented uniformly across professional educational institutions. However, seats falling under the all India quota will remain outside the purview of the reservation policy.Existing horizontal reservations and provisions for economically weaker sections (EWS), persons with disabilities, ex-servicemen and other eligible categories will continue as per existing norms.