Maharashtra sets up cell with six principals to monitor drought relief for college students

Maharashtra Directorate of Higher Education has formed a cell comprising six senior principals from Pune to monitor the implementation of drought relief measures, including the forgiveness of examination fees, Shailendra Deolankar, Director of Higher Education, Maharashtra, announced today.

The directorate will also make public the contact numbers of public relations officers (PROs) and examination directors at every university to help students access the benefits. The phone numbers will be shared with legislators and colleges, Deolankar said in a press conference. The higher education minister has also asked universities to appoint district coordinators, particularly in the Marathwada region, which has been identified as the most drought-affected region in the information shared at the press conference.

Pramod Naik, Director of Technical Education, said a person from the directorate would be appointed for coordination and added that Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University (DBATU) had received similar instructions for technical courses.

This comes after complaints from students who said they were unclear about whom to approach to avail benefits of relief measures announced by the Maharashtra government. Deolankar said the directorate had received several calls from students and recognised the need for universities to communicate the provisions more clearly.

The state government announced drought in 265 talukas across 34 districts on September 25 due to the impact of El Niño. The school and higher education departments were subsequently directed to provide relief in examination fees.

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Maharashtra drought relief: Around 5 lakh students to benefit

Deolankar said around five lakh students are expected to benefit from the examination fee forgiveness programme.

On September 30, the Directorate of Higher Education issued a circular to 1,237 aided and 3,000 unaided colleges, directing them to implement the relief measures. Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil also directed universities not to charge examination fees from students.

Universities were told to establish task forces to identify additional forms of relief, including the possibility of raising corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds to help meet expenses such as hostel mess charges. The newly constituted cell will centrally monitor the implementation of the relief measures on a week-to-week basis.

Students will not have to pay examination fees upfront

Deolankar clarified that the measure involves forgiveness of examination fees rather than reimbursement after payment.

He said some university vice-chancellors had pointed out that students could already receive examination fee reimbursement through scholarship schemes. However, under those arrangements, students must first pay the fees and then seek reimbursement.

Under the drought relief measures, students should not be required to pay the examination fee in the first place. “Our instructions are crystal clear: students aren't to be charged anything at all,” Deolankar said.

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Colleges to submit list of financial liabilities

Colleges and universities have been directed to submit their financial liabilities to the Directorate of Higher Education, which will seek supplementary funds from the state government.

Students eligible for examination fee relief may still apply for forgiveness under the drought relief programme. Universities may ask them to submit an undertaking stating that they have not applied for the Rajarshi Shahu fee benefit programme of the state government.

Tuition fee relief under consideration

The examination fee forgiveness measures do not cover tuition fees. Deolankar said the directorate had initially held a meeting with 151 autonomous colleges and appealed to them to implement the examination fee relief and adopt a flexible approach towards students.

He said colleges could be informally asked to allow students to pay tuition fees in instalments. The suggestion of deferring tuition fee payments will be placed before the minister, and a policy decision may be taken after consultation with the relevant authorities.

Naik said requests for tuition fee relief on humanitarian grounds would also be considered and added that complaints from students had largely come from engineering colleges, with fewer complaints from humanities courses.

Maharashtra board exam fee relief for Classes 10 and 12

On October 2, the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education announced an examination fee exemption for Class 10 and Class 12 students in 265 drought-hit talukas. The board directed its divisional units to accept online applications without collecting examination fees from affected students.

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The exemption applies to students appearing for the Secondary School Certificate (SSC) and Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC) examinations scheduled for February and March 2027, until further orders.

Separately, an official said on October 13 that examination fees had been waived for 82,074 Class 10 and Class 12 students in Latur district. Of these, 47,555 were Class 10 students and 34,519 were Class 12 students. Latur tehsil had the highest number of beneficiaries, at 31,214, followed by Udgir with 11,701 students.