With several cities and places — such as Mumbai, Pune, etc. — amalgamated within a single state, Maharashtra is one of the top destinations for education in India. Students from all over the country flock towards Maharashtra for pursuing careers in their respective fields. With numerous schools, colleges and other educational institutions operating all around, Mumbai and Pune are seen as the hubs for some of the popular institutes, colleges and universities in the state. Other cities such as Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Aurangabad and Nagpur are also well known for having a decent educational base.
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Industry Centric Reforms & Growth
There were several changes in the educational system over last few decades in this state. The curriculum of several courses are changed and altered, are often known to be student friendly for students from several and different backgrounds. For instance, one of the criterion in the year of 2010 for selecting students into colleges for admission was based on ‘Best of 5’ by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary Education. Accordingly, student can choose marks of any five of the subjects out of six in which he or she has scored highest. They can then apply for admission into colleges based on this best five. Languages were given importance in this system, where students cannot opt out or leave on the subjects like English and Marathi. State curriculum framework was also set up in the year of 2010 facilitating school education to be made and reformed as per contemporary and relevant terms. Concepts such as virtual classrooms through video conferencing were also introduced around same period in the education system. Private bodies were also allowed in this state to form new institutions and universities. This measure was encouraged for bringing in more investors into the state and on other hand, also encouraging more educational
institutions.
Primary educational institutions
Every child who is age of five years are eligible to attend any school in the state. The schools in the state are affiliated to either Indian School Certificate Examination, or Central Board of Secondary Education or Maharashtra State Secondary Board. Few schools are also run by the Municipal Corporation.
Colleges and Universities in the State
There are several colleges and institutions offering range of courses in several fields, such as science, commerce, and arts. Maharashtra also has over 25 universities in the state which offer degrees in variety of professional degrees and other courses. Some of the well-known institutions and universities in the state include,
IIT Bombay,
Bombay University,
Symbiosis Institute,
Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar University,
Savitribai Phule University,
Maharashtra National Law University,
Tata Institute to names a few…
There are also seats reserved for students from other states who wish to study in the state. They are solely reserved for nonresident students.
Education for students from abroad
Several colleges in the state, mostly for management and medical colleges are well known to offer opportunities for students from abroad to undertake their studies in them. Some of the institutes include Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies and KJ Somaiya Institute of Management Studies and Research. The state of Maharashtra follows the All India Council for Technical Education related guidelines to reserve 15% of the seats for NRI students.
They are also provided with hostel accommodation. Maharashtra further has several hostels and guest houses which can offer accommodation students from regions outside the place of study and all over the country. Several of the well-known educational institutions often have their own accommodation provided for students studying in them.
The state of Maharashtra provides several opportunities for undertaking education (in various degrees). It is well known for its quality of education provided. According to the Census (2011) statistics, the literacy rate of Maharashtra stands at 82.91% with male literacy around 89.82% and female literacy around 75.48%.