Maharashtra Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Dada Patil on Tuesday, 9 June announced that CET Cell Student Facilitation Centres will be established across every district of Maharashtra, offering students direct access to guidance on CET examinations, the Centralised Admission Process (CAP), scholarship schemes, and admission-related procedures. Services at these centres are set to commence from 10 June.

Network of 40 Centres Across 36 Districts

A total of 40 CET Student Facilitation Centres will be operational across 36 districts of the state. Mumbai will have three centres, while Pune and Nagpur will each have two centres. Of the 40 centres, work on 26 has been completed and six are in the final stage of readiness. The remaining eight centres will be made operational shortly. The decision was formalised at a review meeting chaired by Minister Patil to assess the status of facilitation centres across all districts.

What the Centres Will Offer Students

Minister Patil emphasised that students — particularly those from rural and remote areas — should not have to repeatedly travel to major cities for admission-related work. The centres will provide detailed information on the admission process, scholarship eligibility, CET examination patterns, schedules, and application procedures, all within the student's own district.

Students will also receive guidance on selecting suitable courses, degrees, and educational institutions based on their interests, eligibility, and abilities. Career guidance and predictive counselling will be available alongside information on CAP rounds and CET portal navigation. Front desk assistance will cover required documents, examination hall code of conduct, and related matters.

Grievance Redressal and Technical Support

The centres will coordinate between district-level educational institutions, examination centres under the CET Cell, and the Maharashtra State Common Entrance Test Cell. For unresolved complaints, centres will liaise with concerned offices and officers to support grievance redressal, escalating cases for higher-level resolution where necessary.

Technical and payment-related issues — including payment gateway errors, document and photograph updates, signature corrections, and documentation errors — will also be handled on-site. Students will receive assistance with filling application forms, paying fees, uploading documents, and resolving hall ticket or CAP form issues.

Broader Significance for Students

The initiative addresses a longstanding gap in Maharashtra's admission ecosystem, where students from smaller towns and villages have historically relied on private agents or informal networks for admission guidance, often at a cost. By institutionalising district-level support, the state government is attempting to democratise access to accurate information ahead of each admission cycle.

The centres will additionally provide information on academic counselling, internship opportunities, and employment pathways. With the CAP process already underway for several professional courses, the timing of the launch — from 10 June — is intended to align support with peak admission activity. How effectively these centres are staffed and maintained beyond the initial rollout will determine their long-term impact on student outcomes.