Law to regularise technical education fees in Maharashtra soon

Soon, Maharashtra will have a law to regularise fee structures in technical and medical institutes. The higher and technical education department has formed a committee, which is working on drafting a law based on the existing Acts in states like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

"It will be tabled in the next assembly session," said state higher and technical education minister Rajesh Tope.

The minister made the announcement at 'BRAND MAHARASHTRA - The destination for higher education' conference, arranged by the Consortium of Management Education (COME) and Directorate of Technical Education (DTE) on Friday morning.

"The existing Shikshan Shulka Samiti can only give recommendations and does not have powers to take any kind of actions. If the Act comes into force, it will strengthen the committee," said Tope.

During the conference, Dr Apurva Palkar, president of COME, said institutes should be allowed a flexible fee structure to provide quality education. Tope mentioned that the committee will look into the concern.

Tope proposed another committee to design admission policies in order to make Maharashtra a destination for higher education in the country. "This will help in bringing up the General Enrolment Ratio (GER),” Tope said.

Palkar said, “The admission process and entrance test of the institutes in Maharashtra have to be promoted well in advance to get higher response, which will help in increasing the GER. Currently, students get just 15 days to decide on courses and entrance test etc.”