THANE: Though, the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) has its own schools in the city, there is not a single civic-run college. Now, the TMC has initiated a step in this direction and now plans to start its colleges in Thane. The TMC's education department has already marked the reserved plots for their first college project and now put the issue in front of civic body for their go-ahead.
The city currently has 132 secondary civic-run schools and there are hundreds of other private schools in the city. To boost the higher education system in the city, TMC's education board has turned their eyes on this project. The education board ran a survey recently and gathered that out of 207 reserved plots for education projects, 159 are still vacant. The education board has now started working on these plots and is marking them under three categories - primary schools, secondary schools and colleges. The education department has also proposed 103 primary schools, 51 secondary schools and five colleges on these reserved plots. As the development of these 159 plots requires funds, the education department will now hand over the data from the survey to the civic body to finalise its proposals.
"We have considered all the 159 reserved plots and have categorised them into primary schools, secondary schools and colleges. As per our survey, there is possibility of 103 primary schools, 51 secondary schools and five colleges on these reserved plots. We have now forwarded this data to our civic body to finalise the decision about these plots. If the civic body allows us and is ready to fund the projects, our city may see its first civic-college soon," said Suresh Pawar, Education Officer, TMC.
Pawar further added, "Though there are five plots reserved for colleges, not a single college has been developed by our civic body. Interestingly, all these five plots are empty. Meanwhile, we are also in the process of clearing the plots set aside to build other educational bodies. Some of them have been successfully cleared."
The civic Education Officer also raises the issue of acquiring funds for the proposed project. "We also need funds to develop these plots and so we have suggested some alternatives. The one option is of Private Public Partnership (PPP) where the civic body can hand over their reserved plot to a private institute and can ask for its development. In such a case, the civic body may demand some terms such as reservation for civic school students, concession in fees, etc., against their reserved plots. Another option is of Build Operate Transfer (BOT), which is also possible, and the last but important is of civic funding for raising these plots," Pawar informed.
"Even if the civic body considers building just a few of these colleges, it will greatly benefit the state of civic education in Thane. We are now awaiting a reply from our civic body and after they make a decision, we will decide on what to do next," the Education Officer concluded.
courtesy:www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com
