The proposal was cleared after much heated discussion, Opposition members accused sell-out of civic schools. Congress corporator and Leader of Opposition Ravi Raja said this was the beginning of privatisation of civic schools.
To raise the standard of teaching, and to bring down the drop out rate out in civic schools, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has decided to rope in private organisations to manage these schools. The proposal was cleared during the group leaders' meeting on Monday, and it now awaits the civic improvement committee's approval.
In phase I, 35 BMC-run schools have been offered in the new Full School Management with Private Partner Teachers (FSMPT) policy. These schools have become defunct due to poor attendance. According to officials, all civic schools will be given to private educational trusts in a phase-wise manner.
The proposal was cleared after much heated discussion, Opposition members accused sell-out of civic schools. Congress corporator and Leader of Opposition Ravi Raja said this was the beginning of privatisation of civic schools.
BJP group leader Manoj Kotak sought more clarity on the proposal, pointing that earlier benefactors had used the school premises for commercial purposes. There are a total of 1,188 civic run primary schools in Mumbai. Around 4.8 lakh students are enrolled in these schools. In addition, the civic body also has 49 secondary schools where around 55,576 students are studying. The total number of teaching staff in primary section is 13,911 while 1,754 in the secondary section. BMC has an annual budget of Rs 2,600 crore for education.
According to the proposal, a private NGO can select one civic school, and after approval, it will be responsible for recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff, as well as the overall functioning of the school. As per the FSMPT policy, private trusts who take over defunct schools have to bring their own teachers and funds. The private partner will be selected by an expert committee to sign a 10-year MoU, and will have to present a detailed plan, specify teaching methods and show their ability to generate funding. The expert committee includes additional municipal commissioner (western suburbs), deputy municipal commissioner (education), civic education officer and two education experts.
According to civic officers, two well-known trusts from the city have already shown interest in running the civic school. The civic officials believe that the move will help the students from civic schools to come up on par with better educational institutions, and will remove the inferiority complex that is associated with civic schools.
The Plan
According to the proposal, a private NGO can select one civic school, and after approval, it will be responsible for recruitment of teaching and non-teaching staff, as well as the overall functioning of the school. There are 1,188 civic run primary schools.
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