Education bodies meet Sharad Pawar

Office-bearers of various educational institutions met Nationalist Congress Party supremo (NCP) Sharad Pawar here on Saturday to discuss the financial burden faced by the institutes.

Some of the heads of educational institutions met Pawar in New Delhi on April 5 where Pawar promised them to look into their problems.

Pawar assured to perform the role of a mediator between the education minister, secretary of the department and the office-bearers.

He suggested setting up a forum involving education minister, secretary of the department and office-bearers for a dialogue. Deccan Education Society’s secretary Shrikrishna Kanetkar told DNA, “When we met him in New Delhi, he was willing to discuss the issues.   However, we requested him to have a meeting with office-bearers of other educational institutes in the city. He agreed and hence the meeting took place on Saturday."

The meeting which lasted for over one and half hours revolved round the financial burden faced by the educational institutes, the staff crunch and other issues. Kanetkar said, “For last 10 to 15 years, the institutions have not got non-salary grants from the government. Even if we have got a few grants, they are inadequate,’’ he said. They met Pawar as the higher education department is with the NCP.