Tawde has assured that the elections would be held in June and no more delays were expected. (File)
Student elections at university campuses in the state will be held in June, according to state Education Minister Vinod Tawde. Student council elections were banned in Maharashtra since 1994. The Maharashtra Public Universities Act passed in December 2016 reintroduced the student union elections to encourage participation of students in decision-making of the universities.
The Act came into force on March 1 last year and the statutes for election for all other bodies were released subsequently. The government had, however, refrained from reintroducing the elections fearing clashes on campuses. At the time several institutes across the country were witnessing volatile political environment and frequent clashes.
Now, Tawde has assured that the elections would be held in June and no more delays were expected. “The statutes are almost ready. We are just taking some final feedback. The statutes will be out in a couple of weeks,” he said. “Earlier, statutes for different universities were different but we have tried to make a common statute that will be followed by all universities,” he said.
The minister also said the state’s competency tests for school students would be back soon. “The baseline test, which maps the students’ level of understanding, had not worked earlier because of lack of awareness among teachers and students. So we have done away with it for now but we will re-introduce an improved baseline test,” Tawde said.