Bhopal schools vow not to promote select book and uniform vendors

After receiving notice from the district education officer, seven schools of Bhopal gave in writing on Wednesday that neither will they influence parents and guardians to buy school uniforms, books from selected vendors nor would they set up personal book stalls in school premises.

After receiving notice from the district education officer (DEO), seven schools of Bhopal gave in writing on Wednesday that neither will they influence parents and guardians to buy school uniforms, books from selected vendors nor would they set up personal book stalls on school premises.

The district education officer said a written undertaking had been taken from the schools. (Photo for representation purpose)

DEO Dharmendra Sharma said, “We had received complaints against Delhi Public School (DPS) Kolar, The Sanskaar Valley School, Carmel Convent Senior Secondary School B.H.E.L, Vindhyachal Academy, Bonnie Foi School and All Saints’ School, Gandhinagar.

“We sent our team to inspect these schools and made sure that they stop violating the order of the administration. A written undertaking has been taken from them. If we find the school bags or books with logos, we will take action against the school concerned,” added Sharma.

The complaints were filed on Whatsapp number 92294-44908, released by the district administration a month ago. Seven complaints had been filed till March 12 .

The school authorities had defied the district administration’s order dated December 31, 2015 discouraging involvement in any activity under section 144 and directing to keep their syllabi unchanged for the next three years. On February 29, 2016, the collector ordered all CBSE-affiliated schools and other private schools to submit their booklists, so that parents can decide on shops to buy books. But some school authorities expressed their unawareness about the notice from DEO.

“We have submitted the booklist to the collector and parents are free to buy books from wherever they wish. We are not forcing them to buy from a particular vendor,” said principal Lalitha Iyer of Bonnie Foi School, marked for allowing sale of books from a particular shop.

Vinita Mallik, principal of DPS, (Kolar), said they do not force regulations on guardians. “We are only providing books to those guardians who have transfer cases as they are unaware about the markets of the city. By no means are we pushing parents to buy books from us,”said Mallik.

Vindyachal Academy’s manager, Uday Kumar said, “We have instructed guardians to purchase books from outside. We have also told the district education officer that we are not operating any book shop in school or asking parents to buy books from some shop.”