Notices served, ₹1 lakh fine imposed on 221 schools running in Prayagraj for functioning sans recognition

The school owners have been given seven days. If the fine is not paid within the stipulated time, in that case, their cases will be referred to higher authorities for initiating a recovery process, like that done for collecting land revenue dues.

A total of 221 primary (classes 1 to 5) and upper primary (classes 6 to 8) schools in the Prayagraj district are running without recognition. The Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA)-Prayagraj has identified such schools and issued a notice to each one of them, said officials of the state basic education department on Tuesday.

The Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Department has launched a campaign against schools running without recognition in the state a few months back. These schools were served notices and given an opportunity to either close the school or complete the process of getting recognition if they fulfilled the terms and conditions, as laid down by the state government. Instructions were given to keep the school closed until recognition was received. (FOR REPRESENTATION PURPOSE)

A fine of ₹1 lakh each has also been imposed on each of these schools, said BSA-Prayagraj Praveen Kumar Tiwari confirming the development.

The school owners have been given seven days. If the fine is not paid within the stipulated time, in that case, their cases will be referred to higher authorities for initiating a recovery process, like that done for collecting land revenue dues, the officials said.

The list of these unrecognised schools compiled by the BSA-Prayagraj, a copy of which is with HT, has nine schools from the city area, three each from Uruwa and Jasra development blocks, two each from Shankargarh, Meja and Kaudhiyara blocks, 23 from Bahadurpur, eight from Chaka, 15 each from Kaudihara and Saidabad, 16 from Mauaima, five from Karchhana, 11 from Holagarh, six each of Handia and Soran and 20 of Baharia development blocks.

The Uttar Pradesh Basic Education Department has launched a campaign against schools running without recognition in the state a few months back. These schools were served notices and given an opportunity to either close the school or complete the process of getting recognition if they fulfilled the terms and conditions, as laid down by the state government. Instructions were given to keep the school closed until recognition was received, the officials shared.

Even after this, many schools did not pay attention. Now, a fine of ₹1 lakh has been imposed on all unrecognised schools. They have also been given strict instructions to close the school. Any schools found operating during this period will be fined ₹10,000 per day, they warned.