Some of the bodies set up by the State Government in Maharashtra for bringing about qualitative improvement in education are as follows:
(1) Maharashtra State Board of Secondary Education:
The Maharashtra Secondary Education Boards Act was passed in 196;. As per the provisions of this act, the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary Education and its three Divisional Boards of Aurangabad, Nagpur and Pune were established in 1966.
The State Board deals with policy-related matters and advises the state Government on different aspects and issues concerning secondary education.
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The functions of Maharashtra State Board of Secondary education are as follows:
(a) To advise the State Government on all policy matte s concerning secondary education in general and the following matters in particular:
(i) Ensuring a uniform pattern of secondary education in the entire state;
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(ii) Maintaining a uniform standard of education in secondary education;
(iii) Ensuring co-ordination between the state and national policies on education;
(iv) Ensuring co-ordination between secondary education with higher education.
(b) To formulate guiding principles for determining syllabi for secondary education.
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(c) To approve the syllabi prepared by Divisional Boards.
(d) To award certificates to successful candidates passing S.S.C. and H.S.C. examinations.
(e) To prescribe rules for admission to final examination for regular as well as private candidates.
(f) To institute and award scholarships, stipends, medals, prizes, certificates and other rewards.
(g) To formulate rules and regulations for promotions of students.
(h) To suggest measures for physical, moral and social welfare of students.
(i) To organize in-service programmes for teachers.
(j) To provide guidance to teachers.
(k) To formulate rules and regulations for recognition of schools.
(l) To give recognition to schools.
(m) To provide and sanction grant-in-aid to schools.
(n) To arrange for inspection of schools.
(o) To provide advice to schools in general,
(p) To inspect and supervise generally the functioning of Divisional Boards.
(q) To audit accounts of Divisional Boards and schools.
The major function of the Divisional Boards is to conduct examinations including:
i. Appointing paper-setters in various subjects.
ii. Appointing chief moderator for each subject who is responsible for everything concerning that subject.
iii. Appointing examiners for all subjects.
iv. Appointing chief conductor of examination centres.
v. Selecting centres for examination.
vi. Conducting examinations.
vii. Compiling results.
(2) State Institute of Education:
Established in Pune in 1964, its functioning covers four major areas:
(a) Research.
(b) Extension.
(c) Training.
(d) Consultative and clearing house functions.
(3) State Bureau of Text-book Production and Curriculum Research:
It was established in 1967 and its main functions are as follows:
(a) Producing text-books, teachers’ handbooks and workbooks for students.
(b) Printing, publishing, stocking, distributing or selling these teaching-learning materials or making arrangements for making these available at a reasonable price.
(c) Undertaking researches on curriculum including syllabi, text-books and supporting material.
(d) Encouraging research on these aspects by other educators.
(e) Establishing and maintaining libraries for facilitating researches on curriculum and text-books.
(f) Assisting and advising the State Government in selecting and approving text-books for primary and upper primary classes submitted by private authors or publishers.
(g) Evaluating the utility of text-books, teachers’ handbooks and other educational material produced by private agencies.