After initial euphoria, Maharashtra government stops initiative as it fails to live up to expectations.
It looks like Maharashtra’s Super 50 dream has come to a premature halt.
The initiative was the result of a tie-up between the government and a private IIT coaching academy to train, free of cost, 50 promising scheduled caste and scheduled tribe students from rural Maharashtra to take a crack at the India Institute of Technology Joint Entrance Examination (IIT-JEE), thus giving them a ticket to the country’s premier institutes.
The initiative, designed on the lines of Bihar’s Super 30, has been stopped by the state government.
Last year the government had a tie-up with IITian’s Pace, a coaching academy, to provide coaching, along with junior college education and hostel accommodation to 50 promising IIT aspirants from rural Maharashtra, based on an entrance test.
The objective was to provide these students with a once in a lifetime opportunity, which would have otherwise been beyond their means. IITian’s Pace provided coaching, worth Rs4 lakh per year, free to these students.
However, this dream has been cut short as the government says that they have withdrawn permission to the institute to continue with a new batch of students this year.
Dinesh Waghmare, IAS officer and secretary, social justice department said, “We were not happy with the performance of the first batch of students. The batch that is currently studying will be allowed to complete their course but we will not start a new batch.’’
Pravin Tyagi, managing director, IITian’s Pace, said: “The government could have taken this step of stopping future batches because they had to pay Rs75, 000 for hostel accommodations.’’ He said that when the students arrived in the city last year, they did not have decent hostel accommodations.
“For the current batch, we have our own hostel facilities. We wanted students who were the top but do not have opportunities to get the best education. The idea behind this project was that financial troubles should not stop any student from pursuing a good education.’’
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