Nashik, an ancient holy city in India and also the third-largest city of Maharashtra is a part of Maharashtra's dream development project, also known as the 'Golden Triangle Project'. Nashik has emerged as one of the fastest-growing cities in the golden triangle in Maharashtra, with Mumbai and Pune being the other two cities. Its favourable climate and ideal location makes it a good destination for people to settle here, giving it an advantage over other cities in the western region of the country. In the last few years, the government has been making a lot of efforts to develop its State as an education hub. The state is giving a major boost to the education sector to attract a large number of youngsters to study here. However, unlike cities such as Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur,  the city of Nashik is still advancing towards quality education and there are not enough job opportunities for the educated youth in Nashik. And to create more employment in the city, the need of the hour is to establish good quality professional educational institutes.

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Talking about the future of the educational landscape in the city, Sandip Jha, Chairman, Sandip University shares, “Education plays a significant role in the long-term development of a city. Quality education should always be the top priority of leading institutes of the city. Universities with a well-designed curriculum and world-class facilities can transform Nashik into an educational centre. Bolstering the educational scenario along with good public transport is one of the major pressing problems in the city. Albeit, Nashik has so many advantages, there has been a dearth of quality education hitherto. As a result of this, the youth moves out and goes to other megacities for their college studies and subsequently for jobs. Nashik is growing and hence there is a lot of potential for it to become the next educational hub in the country”.

Adds Jha, “We aim to provide the best quality education in Nashik, such that students from not only our city but from across the country should also come here to study. In this regard, we are focussing on how to bridge the gap between the education system and the industry requirements. Our college conducts many workshops, expert’s talks, entrepreneurship summits, and more to give students a practical exposure while encouraging interaction and exchange of ideas”.

Underlying the significance of good education, Jha further says that dreams of  ‘Nashik being an educational hub' could turn into a reality only when high-quality educational institutes get established in the city along with proper transport and connectivity. Emphasizing the need to convert the youth into a useful human resource, he suggests that only a virtuous teacher and a fine institute can make this happen. The recent pandemic has also opened newer avenues and channels of learning with the education system undergoing a complete revamp. From the early age of traditional 'Gurukuls' to the modern age 'international schools, the education system in India has come a long way. Today education is not confined to the walls of the classroom. We have now entered the era of Online Learning! Thanks to digital education, one can observe dynamic and extensive trends emerging in the field of education. Speaking of which, before there were just a handful of career options to choose from. Today, with changing times and expanding horizons of online learning, the younger generation has lots of new-age innovative career options.

While citing the importance of digital learning, Jha reflects that “Technology has played a significant role in this transition. Schools and colleges are slewly relying on advanced learning platforms to teach students over digital media. Despite this, technology can never replace the warmth and personal touch of a teacher. It is the teacher who builds an emotional connection with the students, solving their problems, guiding them in the right direction, and so on. Hence, teachers will always be needed in the overall development of a student”.

Many schools and colleges in Nashik have already started imparting education online. And they are focused on imparting academics using the online tools and platform in the best possible way. Several academicians and educators are even researching newer and innovative practices of online teaching. They are striving hard to provide quality education to promote the holistic development of children. The world of education has never been the same ever since the occurrence of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Because learning cannot stop, schools and colleges have all employed virtual teaching techniques to cope up with the situation. Jha feels that, with improved infrastructure, development of various industries, and technology advancement, Nashik can march ahead on becoming a powerhouse of education in Maharashtra and give fair competition to cities like Mumbai and Pune. Nashik because of its strategic location and pleasant climate has a huge scope for providing excellent education as compared to other regions of the country. Moreover, the recent efforts by the government such as the development of Nashik under the Smart City project can be regarded as a progressive step towards establishing a sustainable infrastructure for industrial advancement in the region.

Moreover, as megacities like Mumbai, Pune, and Bangalore have reached a point of saturation, several academic institutions are now setting up their base in Nashik. There are many international schools and colleges also coming up in the area. Colleges in the city are providing a great platform for higher education in the field of engineering, medical science, management, arts, and social science, law, commerce, mass communication, journalism, etc. 

In this regard, if Government takes positive steps with a well-laid-out approach to improving the level of education and connectivity in the city, then Nashik can become the next global educational hub for innovation and employment opportunities. “Together we can create a world-class education system with a strong knowledge base”, appends Dr. Sandip Jha.

 

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