Top pvt schools may get breather

Private schools with a proven track record may be exempted from a controversial provision under the Right to Education Act that requires all existing private schools to obtain a certificate of recognition to continue operations. Charu Sudan Kasturi reports.

Private schools with a proven track record may be exempted from a controversial provision under the Right to Education Act that requires all existing private schools to obtain a certificate of recognition to continue operations.

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HRD minister Kapil Sibal has suggested that reputed private schools be exempt from requiring fresh recognition, a process that could lead to "unnecessary" harassment by local authorities, top government sources told HT.

The exemption can be awarded either through an amendment to the Act or through guidelines issued by the HRD ministry, the sources said.

Sibal's suggestion will be discussed at an August 14 meeting the HRD ministry is calling to discuss a number of concerns related to the implementation of the law.

Top private schools have been opposing the section 18 of the Act which makes obtaining recognition mandatory, criticising it as discriminatory.

This section, private schools have argued, means that while government schools — irrespective of their quality — will not need certificates of recognition, but all private schools will be required to obtain one.

At least a section of the ministry bureaucracy is likely to oppose the move, sources said.

"It will not be easy to categorise schools as reputed or not reputed," an official argued.