The Odisha Shikshanet initiative will provide high-speed internet to 601 government and aided colleges over three years.
The Odisha Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, has sanctioned the Rs 393.62 crore Odisha Shikshanet scheme to provide free Wi-Fi across 601 government and aided colleges in the state. According to The News Mill, the project will be implemented over three years, spanning the 2026-27 to 2028-29 financial years.
Chief Secretary Anu Garg told reporters that the programme will allow authenticated students to access as much as 1 GB of high-speed data every day while on campus. The initiative is intended to support academic research, skill development, and access to digital libraries and e-books.
The expanded rollout builds upon an earlier phase that provided connectivity to 130 colleges. The state government expects the scheme to serve more than 6,00,000 faculty members and students, particularly those from remote areas and economically weaker sections.
The project includes the installation of Wi-Fi infrastructure, bandwidth provisioning, network management, and cybersecurity. A centralised monitoring dashboard will also be used to track network security, usage, and service uptime.
The Cabinet meeting also approved 13 other proposals related to governance and infrastructure. Chief Minister Majhi also announced the launch of the OSWAN Video Conferencing facility in 115 Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) to improve communication with the state government.
