State mulls getting private managements to revive defunct civic schools

The state school education department plans to take help from private schools to revive the defunct municipal schools in the state, especially in Mumbai.

The state school education department plans to take help from private schools to revive the defunct municipal schools in the state, especially in Mumbai.

The idea is to ask a private school management to run one shift of the municipal school using its resources and to accommodate students of the private school in another shift.

Rajendra Darda, education minister, said: “The growing number of defunct schools is cause for concern. As part of this concept, the private school managements can use our premises to teach their students as well as the municipal school students. The costs that they will incur for provision of teachers and other facilities to teach the municipal school students could be cross-subsidised.”

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The symbiotic relationship will help improve the quality of education provided to the municipal school students by ensuring good teachers and facilities.

Darda said that they will work out a policy to detail the process by which the premises can be given out. “Ideally, this offer can be made to a private school in the vicinity. We can work out an agreement for the same. I will discuss the issue with the civic commissioner,” he said.

The 2010-11 records state that 3,76,059 students are studying in BMC schools located in 1,100 buildings across Mumbai.

Of these, about 30 schools have been shut down or have been merged with other public schools in 2009-10 alone. Twenty-seven Marathi medium schools have shut down in the last three years.

A school education officer looking at the proposal said that bringing in such a policy would mean a systemic change that entails change in the law for which governor’s consent would be needed.