The Odisha cabinet on Wednesday gave its green light to a landmark welfare initiative designed to provide completely free education from kindergarten (KG) through to postgraduate (PG) level across all government and government-aided educational institutions in the state.
Speaking to reporters, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi announced that the cabinet had cleared the ‘Gyanodaya-Shiksharu Samruddhi: KG to PG Free Education’ scheme, which is set to roll out starting with the 2026–27 academic year.
The Chief Minister hailed the policy as a “historic” and “first-of-its-kind” in the country.
As part of the newly introduced scheme, students who secure admissions into regular, full-time courses at these government and government-aided institutions will receive a total waiver on their admission fees, Majhi explained.
The scheme will cover students from class 9 to class 12 at government and government-aided schools, alongside those enrolled in undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) programmes across state public universities, government-run colleges, and aided higher education colleges, he said.
Because basic education up to class 8 is already provided free of charge in the state, the initiative effectively bridges the remaining gap to guarantee cost-free education all the way to a master’s degree, the Chief Minister noted.
On the other hand, the Chief Minister clarified that self-financing courses, fully private or unaided institutions, public-private partnership (PPP) model setups, and specialised professional or technical degrees will remain excluded from fee waiver under the scheme, the CM said.
Majhi emphasised that the primary goal of the initiative is to ensure financial hardships never stand in the way of a deserving student’s academic journey, effectively lifting a massive financial constraints off the shoulders of economically weaker and disadvantaged families.
The move is projected to significantly boost student enrolment, encourage long-term retention, curb school dropout metrics, and empower a larger demographic of youth to access university-level degrees.
According to Majhi, the cabinet has greenlit a budget allocation of Rs 895.57 crore for the inaugural year and Rs 5,467.55 crore over a five-year period for the scheme’s implementation.
Nearly 32 lakh students enrolled in government and government- educational institutions under the School and Mass Education as well as Higher Education departments are slated to benefit from the decision.
