Maharashtra: Education officers to be held accountable for unauthorised schools

The state government started a drive to shut these schools and shift the students to nearby authorised schools. Representation Pic

The state government has pulled up education officials for failing to restrict the mushrooming of unauthorised schools in the state. In a new development, the state government issued a Government Resolution (GR) cautioning officials over the proliferation of unauthorised schools, warning them of disciplinary action.

The GR issued on December 18, 2023, explicitly states, "Henceforth, if any new unauthorised school is discovered in any part of the state, the respective education officer will be held personally accountable and disciplinary action will be initiated against them."

"The order will act as a deterrent and make local officials more accountable. We are already working on regularising existing unauthorised schools in the state, while shutting down those with blatant and serious violations. At the same time, we want to ensure that no new unauthorised schools come up anywhere in the state," said a senior official from the state school education department.

Following sharp criticism from both political and academic circles for the past few years about hundreds of schools rampantly operating without NoC and recognition from the state education department, the state government started a drive to shut these schools and shift the students to nearby authorised schools.

In the annual survey conducted by the education department of the BMC during the academic year 2022-23, 269 primary schools were found to be unauthorised. Of these, 62 schools were closed, whereas 13 schools managed to obtain government permission to run as private schools and acquired the status of self-financed school. In order to prevent them from suffering academic losses, 1,500 students from these 62 schools were accommodated and transferred to adjacent schools.

This brought the total number of unauthorised schools in the city to 194. Sixteen more unauthorised schools were identified and added to the list in 2023. As per sources, about 30,000 students were studying in these 210 schools.

A severe crackdown began after the director of education (Secondary and Higher Secondary Schools) Krishna Kumar Patil, in an order to his divisional subordinates in January this year, stated that there should be no unauthorised schools in the state by the next academic year. On April 25, deputy director of school education (Mumbai) Sandeep Sangave issued a notification directing officials to shut down such schools by April 30 and submit a report.

In June this year, the education department of the BMC closed 22 unauthorised schools in Mumbai from the list of 210. Action was taken against these schools as per the rules stipulated under Section 18 (5) of the Right to Education (RTE) Act, 2009. According to this section, any person or organisation that establishes or runs a school without obtaining a certificate of recognition, or continues to run a school after withdrawal of recognition has to shut down and shall be liable to a fine, which may extend to R1 lakh and in case of continuing contraventions, R10,000 each day. The number of unauthorised schools has now come down to 187 in Mumbai city.

Rohit Dandawate, president of Global Parents' Teachers' Association said, "Urgent measures must be taken against existing unauthorised schools in Mumbai too. While action is taken against smaller schools in slums, such as in Dharavi, it is perplexing that similar action is not enforced against bigger schools operating with blatant violations. Despite continuous communication with the education department, no substantial steps have been initiated to address the issue of unauthorised schools."

He added, "Even our association wrote to the education department year after year alerting them about these unauthorised schools, no action was taken by the education department against the schools or even the officials who aided these unauthorised schools. The GR is welcome, but will there be action taken, or will this be just another eyewash?"

"Can an unauthorised school continue to operate for years without the connivance of the authorities? The deputy director of school education-Mumbai had earlier issued a notification to name officials in FIRs for failing to act against the unauthorised schools in their area. Unauthorised schools have been running for years, students and parents are being cheated, but the question is being raised why no action was taken. What about action against officials who have aided the existing schools for so many years, has any action been taken?" said Sushil Shejule, coordinator, Marathi School Management Association.

187
No of unauthorised schools in city