Caste certi. to be given in schools of Maharashtra

Mumbai: Maharashtra revenue department will make available all the requisite certificates such as domicile, income, caste etc to 9th Std students in the school itself. The project will begin in government-run schools and will eventually be extended to private schools as well, said Swadhin Kshatriya, principal secretary, revenue. 

Students start applying for these certificates after SSC examinations. There is a time frame mandated by the government for certificates to be provided once an application is made. Till now parents and students have to unnecessarily go to court. It will prevent frauds as teachers and principals know their students.

Certificates such as domicile, income, caste etc are necessary to avail of reserved seats,  scholarships etc when children seek admission for higher education. The competition for seats in colleges and for professional courses makes it necessary for parents to keep these documents well in advance. 

Maharashtra cabinet approves masterplan for sanctioning new schools

Mumbai: Maharashtra cabinet today approved a masterplan to sanction 2,372 new primary and secondary Marathi medium schools in rural areas. 
     
As per the plan, the schools will start in the academic year 2012-13 and 2013-14.
     
The decision to prepare a master plan for sanctioning new schools was taken in 2009. Accordingly, mapping of existing schools using geographical information system (GIS) was done, and the areas where there was no school infrastructure in the radius of one, three and five km were identified.
     
The criterion for opening a new primary school is minimum population of 200, while that for the secondary school is population of 2,000. 

Decision on HSC weightage for engg admission in 2 months in Maharashtra

Mumbai : Maharashtra Higher and Technical Education Minister Rajesh Tope today said that government had set up an 8-member study-group to decide how much weightage the std 12th board (HSC) examination marks should have for the purpose of admission to engineering courses. 

"The committee will submit its decision in two months," he said in the legislative council. An earlier committee, appointed by the Centre and headed by T Ramaswamy, has put forth various options, one of them is 40 per cent weightage for HSC marks and 60 per cent for ISEET (Indian Science Engineering Entrance Test) score. 

The IITs have accepted this formula. ISEET will be a common test for all engineering courses from 2013, while the NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) will be common for medical colleges nationwide. 

Opposition members Dr Dipak Sawant and Diwakar Raote demanded that ISEET exams should be held also in Marathi, which would benefit students from Marathi-medium schools. "We will consider this positively," the minister said.

Maharashtra govt to bring out white paper on standard of education

Mumbai: A white-paper on the standard of education in the state would be brought out this year, Maharashtra Education Minister Rajendra Darda said. 
 
"The white paper will be tabled in this year's winter session (of the Assembly)," Darda informed the House,  adding that the real situation, drop-out rates of students and other factors will become clear once the document comes out.
 
Stressing on the "value-based" education, the minister said that education should not be confined to four walls of classroom only.
 
"Emphasis should be given on the quality of education, in the absence of which, tribals and people from backward class cannot go forward in their lives," he said while replying to a debate on the topic.
 
Darda said that in order to curb the alleged irregularities in the sports quota marks, henceforth 25 grace marks will be given to those students, who pass the exam. 
 
"Under the sports quota, students from standard 10 and 12 were allocated 25 grace marks. However, several irregularities came to light, as some students indulged in acquiring fake certificates by paying bribes," he said.
 
The minister also said that a meeting will be held soon with the secretaries of General Administration, Finance, Education, Urban Development Departments over implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission for civic school teachers.
 
Hindi would be made a compulsory subject from standard V, as per the 'three language principle', he added. 

Maharashtra Government assures night schools won't close

Mumbai: Maharashtra Government assured the Legislative Council that funds would not be a constraint for running the night schools in the metropolis. 
     
Speaking on behalf of the government on the issue, Industries Minister Narayan Rane said, "The Government will ensure that there would not be fund constraint and these schools are not closed."
      
Some of the night schools operating in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation-run schools on rental basis were recently served notice for not paying rent amounting to Rs 28 lakh.
      
Raising the issue, MLC Kapil Patil said that former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh had ordered that no rent should not be taken from the night schools. 

Maharashtra minister meets Governor to discuss university education

Mumbai: Maharashtra Minister for Higher and Technical Education Rajesh Tope met Governor K Sankaranarayanan to discuss issues related to university education in the state, including those related to the University of Mumbai.

Soon after the meeting, a Raj Bhavan spokesperson announced that the Government has appointed Kumar Bhagwan Khaire, Additional Collector, Pune, as the Registrar of the University of Mumbai. He will take charge of his office on April 3.

The development comes after the University rescheduled the marketing and human resources management (MHRM) paper for April 11, following allegations that it was leaked.  

Reacting to Khaire's appointment, Yuva Sena leader Aditya Thackeray, who is leading a campaign against vice-chancellor Dr Rajan Welukar, said the action was welcome. He sought the dismissal of Welukar, alleging that he was not competent to head the University. 

Maharashtra Minister meets Governor discusses university matters

Mumbai. Maharashtra Minister for Higher and Technical Education Rajesh Tope today (Monday, 2 April) met the Governor of Maharashtra K Sankaranarayanan at Raj Bhavan, Mumbai.

Issues relating to university education including those relating to the University of Mumbai were discussed at the meeting. The meeting lasted for 75 minutes. Earlier the minister indicated that Maharashtra government is thinking for digitization of examination process. 

This may include question-paper setting to checking of answer-sheets.

This process may reduce higher fee burden on parents. Government is scrutinizing proposal of some companies, which in turn ready to provide support in total digitalization of exam process right from form filling to upto issuance of degree certificate. This proposal includes exclusive web portal for each & every university.

This upgradation will reduce result declaration period. Result can be provided through email & students can get digital degree certificate.      

Maharashtra govt comes under fire over school infrastructure

Mumbai: Maharashtra Government has received flak from legislators of all the parties in the Legislative Assembly over Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) by NGO Pratham, which says that 97 per cent of schools have toilets for boys and 91 per cent have independent girls' toilets.

Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse (BJP) and several legislators from both treasury and opposition benches criticised the government for accepting the report by the Centre-sponsored NGO, questioning figures therein, and said the lack of drinking water and water in toilets in schools was a cause of concern.

BJP's Devendra Phadanvis, Amin Patel (Congress) and others objected to the School Education Minister Rajendra Darda's statement that educational standards in Maharashtra were better than those of other states.

Vallabh Benke (NCP) asked the minister to take feedback from the elected representatives rather than relying on NGOs. He said even if there are toilets in schools, there is often no water. Benke said out of the 829 schools surveyed, 14.1 per cent students cannot read books for standard two.
    
The legislators said the government cannot meet the timeframe of March 31, 2012 to complete construction of remaining toilets in schools. They demanded that the government issue a white paper on the infrastructure in schools and their educational status.

Phadanvis also criticised the discrepancies in the figures provided by the NGO and by the state government.

YCMOU convocation held

Nashik: As many as 73,436 students were declared as eligible for degrees and diplomas at the 18th convocation ceremony of the Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU) held today.

A M Pathan, Vice-Chancellor of Gulberga-based Central University of Karnataka, was the chief guest at the ceremony held at the 150-acre YCMOU campus here.

YCMOU Vice-Chancellor R Krishnakumar presided over the function and read out the university's annual report.

Of the total recipients, 48,464 received their degrees and 21,420 got diplomas in various courses ranging from Ph.D, M.Phil to hotel management and catering operations.

school girls from minority communities to get bicycles in Maharashtra

Mumbai: Maharashtra government would be giving bicycles to school girls from the minority communities in rural areas.

Minority Affairs Minister Arif Naseem Khan said that bicycles will be distributed in the rural areas to the girls studying in classes 7th to 10th.
   
The scheme, which is expected to benefit 1.75 lakh girls, will cost Rs 20 crore. "If it succeeds, then it will be extended upto Class XII," he said.
   
Khan also said that in order to provide basic facilities to the minority communities, his department would give funds to the Zilla Parishads.
   
At present, the department gives Rs 20 lakh to municipal corporations, Rs 15 lakh to nagar palikas and Rs 10 lakh to the nagar parishads. "ZPs too will be covered under the scheme henceforth," he said. 

IMA delegation meets Maha health minister

Chandrapur (Maha): Indian Medical Association delegation along with its Chandrapur chapter submitted a memorandum to Maharashtra government for setting up a government medical college.
 
The delegation comprising top IMA office-bearers requested health minister Suresh Shetty in Mumbai to look into the demand, said Dr Mangesh Gulwade, Joint Secretary of IMA Chandrapur.