Unauthorised schools’ students should not suffer

Representational images. Pic/iStock

The Thane civic body has filed a police complaint against 43 unauthorised schools for defying closure orders. While the police are conducting their probe, these institutions are operating with impunity. Schools have accepted new students while concealing their illegal status from parents, said an activist, in a report in this paper.

In Thane, particularly in the Kausa area of Mumbra, 47 schools were found to be running without the authorisation of the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC). While two shut down after receiving notices from the education department, two others have applied for self-financed status.

Now, the remaining 43 schools are facing an FIR. An activist pointed out that these schools are still brazenly going about their business.

While this so-called probe is going on, there must be investigations into how they were allowed to start in the first place. Then, how they were allowed to continue.
While the closure of schools is one thing, students will have to be accommodated in other educational institutes so that they do not suffer. Unsuspecting parents may have taken permission, some after paying hefty fees, and will surely be worried about their children now.

It is shocking to see as many as 40 schools functioning without permission and all this points to a larger racket. All those involved need to be weeded out, as this racket can easily proliferate into other areas. It is evident that here, illegality has an eco-system and the rot is entrenched deep for so many institutions to continue functioning. This has to be taken out from the very roots so that there is no chance of a re-birth. One feels for the parents who have to be given alternatives, as stress levels go through the roof given how challenging the admission system is.