Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS)

The Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences – KISS, comprises KISS Foundation, KISS School & College and KISS University. KISS Foundation is an NGO in India headquartered in Bhubaneswar, Odisha. School, College and University is the educational wing of this initiative located at the intersection of food, education and empowerment. We are powered by a belief that a better world – free from hunger, poverty & illiteracy – is possible. We provide free education, accommodation, food and healthcare to over 30,000 indigenous students currently studying at our main campus in Bhubaneswar. We are currently 40,000 alumni strong. We serve an additional 10,000 students across our satellite centers. Odisha is known for its immense indigenous population, which comprises 24% of the total state’s population. Unfortunately, these communities remain one of the most marginalized and deprived in modern Indian society. Dr. Achyuta Samanta, the founder of KIIT and KISS, realized the difficulty faced by tribal communities and attempted to empower them by founding KISS, in 1992-93. The institute, which started with only 125 tribal students in a rented house, has spiraled into the world’s largest and only institute providing free education from Kindergarten to Post-Graduation and Doctoral Programmes with vocational and extracurricular training, free lodging and boarding, state-of-the-art facilities and indigenously controlled pedagogies exclusively to more than 80,000 indigenous students. The foundations of KISS are based on Dr. Samanta’s dream of providing free and accessible holistic education to indigenous students across the country. With the availability of these opportunities, students of KISS have repeatedly proven remarkable in academics, sports and vocational activities earning global recognition in both academia and sports.