The state government’s efforts to get the common man and stakeholders in the higher education sector to comment on the draft of the Maharashtra Public Universities Act have fallen flat, as the website has got negligible response.
According to higher and technical education ministry officials, stakeholders like principals and teachers have given their views on why the online feedback form has not received much response from the general public.
With an aim to include and get private and foreign universities under the purview of the act, the state had formed the Nigvekar committee to amend the Maharashtra University Act of 1994; the committee submitted the draft act in November last year. It was then presented on an open forum on the government website and through workshops to get feedback.
“There is no point in giving suggestions on the draft as it is incomplete and has missed many issues,” said a principal who had attended a workshop at Hinduja College in February.
“The website has got very little feedback as it has not been publicised properly. Also, the draft is very lengthy and very few people would be interested in going through it,” said Dr V.N. Magre, former director, Board of College and University Development, Mumbai University.
However, an education ministry official claimed the workshops conducted in the past two months had received good response.