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In a first, MC to crack down on 91 unrecognised schools in Chandigarh
In April, UT education department had started an inspection for the second time; the first inspection in January 2018 had failed to elicit a conclusive action
In the first-ever drive against unrecognised schools in Chandigarh, the municipal corporation has initiated an inspection, after which show-cause notices will be issued to the erring institutions, the additional commissioner of MC, Tilak Raj, said Wednesday.
Citing a letter from the education department, which lists 91 unrecognised schools, the sub-divisional engineer, Vishal Sharma, last week, had asked all junior engineers in Chandigarh to ‘check and mark’ such schools under their jurisdiction.
The letter, a copy of which is with Hindustan Times, reads, “Kindly check and mark the schools which are under the ‘Abadi area’ of respective villages under your jurisdiction as enclosed in the list within three days. It is also requested to add the schools which are still running and are not mentioned in the list enclosed so that further action can be taken against them (sic).”
Tilak Raj, while speaking to HT, said they received a letter from the Chandigarh education department asking them to take appropriate action against unrecognised schools under their jurisdiction.
He said, “According to the by-laws of the rural areas, construction of educational institutes under the Lal-Dora area is not allowed. We have asked our junior engineers to conduct a survey to see which schools fall under that area. After that, show-cause notices will be issued to them and explanations will be sought.”
The term ‘Lal Dora’ is used in the revenue offices to signify that portion of the village land which is part of the village ‘abadi’ (habitation). The land under Lal-Dora falls under the MC, however, the extensions beyond it come under the UT estate office.
Rubinderjit Singh Brar, director of school education, Chandigarh, said, “The MC is duty-bound to check various factors of the school establishment like firesafety norms, building by-laws, etc.” Regarding the closure of the schools, he said, “After the MC’s report, we will consult senior officials to arrive at a decision.”
Sources within the education department said the future of over 20,000 students studying in these unrecognised schools hangs in the balance, as these schools are neither affiliated to any education board nor recognised by the UT.
An education department official, who didn’t wish to be named, said, “The schools are denied recognition by the district educational officer (DEO) because they don’t fulfil the minimum quality standards of infrastructure and education. Teacher-pupil ratio, disaster preparation, firesafety norms, standards of curriculum, land allotment agreement and other parameters are brazenly ignored by these schools.”
Most of these schools are primary as they are unable to get recognition to run board classes. These schools operate in residential areas, in small houses, without playgrounds and/or libraries.
In April this year, the UT education department had started an inspection of unrecognised schools in the city for the second time. The department had earlier inspected these schools in January 2018 but had failed to act on the inspection report.
ISSUE LINGERING FOR 4 YEARS
It was in 2015 when the Lok Sabha had questioned the state and UT governments on the state of schools that didn’t comply with the rules under the Right to Education Act.
