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Student unions oppose new bill on private universities
A new bill was introduced in the winter session of the Maharashtra legislative assembly in December 2023 to consolidate and amend laws related to self-financing private universities in the state
PUNE: Students taking admission in private universities of the state will now won’t be able to get any scholarship benefit from the state government as the latter has decided to grant scholarships to 10% students belonging to reserved categories and economically weaker sections. Within a few months however, this decision has been changed by a new bill and the relevant bill was approved in the recently held winter session of the state legislative assembly in Nagpur.
Member of legislative assembly (MLA) Kapil Patil said, “This new private university-related bill was passed deliberately in order to avoid discussion in the house. After the governor signs the bill, it will become a law and students from any category in the state will have to complete their education only by paying the full fees. As the fees of these private universities are exorbitant, students from the middle-class, poor and economically weaker sections cannot afford to study. So, we will meet the state governor along with a delegation of student unions and organisations to present our strong opposition and views on it.”
A new bill was introduced in the winter session of the Maharashtra legislative assembly in December 2023 to consolidate and amend laws related to self-financing private universities in the state. The bill was passed in the state legislative assembly without any discussion while it was similarly introduced in the state legislative council. Despite opposition to the bill, it was passed and it is now facing strong opposition from various student unions in the state.
Kuldeep Ambekar, a student and president of the Students’ Helping Hand Organisation, said, “No one has considered the rules and provisions of this bill. This bill has been approved so that the burden of the scholarship amount for the reserved category students should not fall on the government and private universities. Due to this bill, students from economically weaker sections of the state will not be able to get educational scholarships if they take admission in private universities.”
To control the exorbitant fees of private universities, the state government tried to bring these universities under the control of the Fees Regulatory Authority (FRA). An attempt was also made to prepare a separate bill and present it in the winter session of the legislature. However, some educationists opposed the bill and put pressure on the government. Similarly, some MLAs associated with educational institutions opposed the related bill. Finally, as middle ground, the government withdrew the FRA bill. Similarly, in private universities, it was decided that the fees of 10% of the reserved and financially weaker students will be paid by the respective university and the government in the form of a scholarship. However, this decision has been reversed through a new bill now, and this will benefit private universities.
