History
Government Polytechnic, Karad is one of the oldest technical institute in Satara district of Maharashtra. The institute is a part of an academic brain child of visionary educational policy plan of late Y.B. Chavan, the First Chief Minister of Maharashtra State. Technical Education contributes substantially to the Socio Economic development of the Country as a whole. The development and sustenance of the industrial sector is entirely dependent on the availability of trained manpower to perform the multidimensional activities needed to keep the wheel of industry running. Late Y.B. Chavan saw the dream of great social reformation and overall development through education both-general and technical- for the people of Maharashtra. With this noble cause the institute is established in 1957.
At the time of its beginning, the Institute was located at Ogalewadi (a village near Karad) and offered diploma education only in Civil Engineering. 68 students got enrolled for that course. In 1958, two more courses were started viz. Mechanical Engineering and Electrical Engineering. Later with increasing number of students and courses, educational setup was shifted to independent building at Vidyanagar, Karad.
Government Polytechnic Karad aims towards making available trained and technically qualified hands to serve the industry and society. Equality of educational opportunities and preparing highly skilled workforce for enterprises widely with excellence is also the objective of this institute. The system, thus, has to be flexible enough to adapt to the rapid changes taking place in the present context.
The institute is approved by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), affiliated to Maharashtra State Board of Technical Education (MSBTE) and run by Directorate of Technical Education (DTE), Government of Maharashtra. It offers diploma courses in seven different branches i.e. Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, Instrumentation Engineering, Computer Engineering and Mechatronics Engineering. The average final year examination result of the institute is above 90% and more than 75% students prefer to go for further education at different educational hubs like Pune, Mumbai, Kolhapur etc. At present, the Institute has 644 students intake capacity for first year including 195 intake for Minority students which started in 2012-13. During first decade of Institute i.e. 1957-1967, there was not a single girl student enrolled whereas, toady there are approximately more than 60% girls taking technical education in this Institute. The institute has Boys Hostel (240 intake) and Girls Hostel (162 intake).
