NAGPUR: The involvement of politicians in private educational institutions is nothing new. Now that some new professional colleges are set to come up in the region, that fact has been reinforced.
TOI has learnt that many political leaders from the region, from various parties, have applied to the authorities to set up various professional colleges.
Presently, prominent politicians who have some stake in educational institutions in the region include: guardian minister Satish Chaturvedi, state BJP president Nitin Gadkari, zilla parishad president Ramesh Mankar, former Rajya Sabha member Datta Meghe, MLA Devendra Fadnavis, Krishnarao Pandav and Bhausaheb Mulak.
Sources said this is not the first time that politicians have shown interest in setting up educational institutions, mostly professional courses. When private colleges were initiated in the mid 1980s, many politicians 'grabbed' the opportunities. Those who had started professional courses include Datta Meghe from Nagpur, Ram Meghe from Amravati, Praful Patel from Gondia, Shantaram Potdukhe from Chandrapur and Ranjit Deshmukh from Nagpur.
Sources in director of technical education (DTE) said that this year, the department has received 37 applications to start professional courses like engineering from this academic year. Sources said DTE has sent the approvals to AICTE for 24 colleges from the division.
IIT, BITS alumni to set up college in city: Engineering aspirants have some good news. Alumni of the top engineering and technical institutes of the country like IIT and BITS Pilani have come together to set up a new engineering and technology college, Nuwa College of Engineering and Technology. The institute would provide next generation engineering education in Nagpur, claimed Chandra Bhople, one of the directors of the management.
The group has also launched a software company that will act as a real products development lab for students before they take up jobs in their respective industry. The software company will be primarily based in Nagpur with development centers in Pune, Mumbai, Tokyo and Silicon Valley. Apart from regular course work, the focus will also be to mentor students at world class companies. "We believe this is our time to pay back to the society that gave us everything," said Chandra Bhople, one of the directors of the institute.
