Maharashtra Education Minister Vinod Tawde today announced closing down of junior colleges set up by owners of coaching classes, where actual teaching takes place in the coaching class in the name of 'integrated course'.
Tawde made the announcement in the state Assembly.
"The Education Department had noticed that some students with high score in class 10 took admission to some ordinary college....We found later that these students have taken admission in colleges set up by private coaching classes," he said.
Such colleges offer 'integrated course', where actual teaching takes place in the coaching class while college admission is a formality for appearing for class 12th exam.
Such colleges, which charge exorbitant fee, will be closed down, the minister said.
MLA Ashish Deshmukh had expressed concern about 'integrated courses' offered by some institutes.
Tawde also announced measures such as bio-metric entry gates and attendance audit to improve attendance in colleges from the next academic year.
He also said the government was making efforts to bridge the gap between syllabuses of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) and the state board.
The syllabuses are almost same, he noted. "But our syllabus is divided....Class 9th course is not taught in class 10th. In other boards, subjects are taught in a holistic way. We are making some changes to bridge the gap between the state board and the CBSE," Tawde said.
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