Focus on goal of providing education rather than looking at deposit of scholarship money: Chandrakant Patil
State minister of Higher and Technical Education Chandrakant Patil said that self-financed educational institutions should focus on their goal of providing education rather than complaining about government assistance.
Speaking at the Progressive Education Society's auditorium in Pune on Monday, Patil said, 'The state government pays 80 per cent of the (total) student fees to educational institutions in the form of 50 per cent and 100 per cent scholarships (in various categories) in the state. It is not difficult to run an institution while the government is providing scholarships. It is your responsibility…and that is not being fulfilled. Sitting nicely in an AC cabin and looking at whether the EWS money has been deposited or not…scheduled castes-scheduled tribe scheme (money has been deposited or not).'
At the event, educationists raised various issues faced by educational institutes in the state. Gajanan Ekbote, chairperson of the Progressive Education Society, said around 16,000 pharmacy seats, 50,000 engineering seats, and 50,000 BBA seats were vacant in the state. In view of this situation, new colleges of engineering and pharmacy should not be approved in the state for two years. He also said non-cooperation by the Fees Regulatory Authority (FRA) was a big challenge for institutes.
Ramdas Zhol, founder president of Association of Self-Finance Institutes and president of Dattakala Group of Institutes, raised issues such as irregular implementation of EWS reservation across different courses in the state, reduction in number of the many CET exams, admission of non-CET students in courses if seats remain vacant, taxation on purchase of land for educational institutes and FSI charges for the same in rural areas, and non-payment of RTE funds by the state government to schools.
Patil invited the education leaders for a meeting with educational officers of the state in Mumbai and assured a resolution of their issues. However, he also pulled up the institutions and said, 'Educational institutes are not an industry, right? It is my view that you have set them up to give knowledge to people. You should concentrate on that.'
Further, Patil suggested that educational institutions should take the help of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives from corporates rather than complain about government schemes. He said institutes could appoint a 'CEO' who would visit corporate offices and attract CSR initiatives.
Talking about 100 per cent fee waiver for girl students in the state, Patil said, 'When no one had demanded it, Eknath Shinde and I took the initiative of free vocational education for girls. By spending Rs 900 crore, 100 percent of the fees of 50 percent of the girls were waived. Under this, the 'tuition fee' and 'examination fee' have been waived. However, 'other fees' are more than the tuition fee in educational institutions. Therefore, the question has arisen as to what about 'other fees'. Now, the idea is to bring other fees also under the fee regulations and waive them for girls, and give the amount to the institutions.'
The minister also said that a 'revolutionary idea' of providing Rs 1,000-1,500 'pocket money' to college-going female students every month is being thought of.
Soham is a Correspondent with the Indian Express in Pune.
A journalism graduate, he was a fact-checker before joining the Express. Soham currently covers education and is also interested in civic issues, health, human rights, and politics. ... Read More
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