Gondwana University makes 11 PG courses free

Nagpur: Gondwana University will possibly be the first varsity in the state to forgo admission and tuition fees for the academic session 2022-23 to boost education among the economically weaker sections, especially in the backward places of Chandrapur and Maoists-affected Gadchiroli districts.
The university had also kick-started a unique ‘sampark abhiyan’ in remote places for motivating students to get enrolled in higher education courses. Teachers spearheaded these campaigns at the village and taluka levels to ensure counselling of the students to get admission in the university.
The university’s Management Council, apart from waiving admission and tuition fees, has also decided to offer hostel accommodation without any charges to the newly enrolled students.
Moreover, the Management Council has also come up with a ‘part-time’ job opportunity for the students under Krantiveer Baburao Sedmake scheme, said Vice-chancellor Prashant Bokare.
“After waiving the fees, we thought about the lodging, boarding and travel too. Buses picking up the students from our newly procured hostels in Gadchiroli will ferry them to the campus free of cost,” he said.
Bokare further said the students would get enough stipend after working for just a couple of hours, which will take care of their food, pocket money and some savings too so that if anyone wants to send money to family, he or she can.
“We had observed that students from backward places join the elders in the family for working in the fields or business , soon after schooling and often abandon their education to save the expenses on admission and fees,” said the VC.
The decision to make the enrolment free in 11 post-graduate courses includes PG degree in English, Marathi, history, mass communications, economics, chemistry and sociology among others.
The university’s public relation officer Varsha Kolhe said a nominal amount of Rs25 would be taken from the students for some scholarship documents and formalities. “Colleges in Aheri (Gadchiroli) and another at Tukum (Chandrapur) have been earmarked as centres by the university from where the students can take direct admissions to Gondwana University courses without having to travel all the way to reach the campus,” she said.
Bokare said the university has taken over unused hostels from government science college and agricultural college in Gadchiroli to offer the students free of cost stay.