The BMC's education committee has given the civic education department three months' time to complete all processes involved in giving recognition to private schools. This is a welcome move for several private schools which end up waiting for years to get recognition from the civic body while it drags its feet.
After the Right to Education (RTE) Act was implemented on April 1, 2010, a new rule was enforced, which required all private schools to apply for fresh recognition from the education department every three years. This was done to keep a check on whether schools are following RTE norms under parameters like good infrastructure, toilets, water etc., including implementation of a 25% quota for underprivileged children.
Education committee chairman Vinod Shelar said till the time such schools don't get recognition, they are unauthorised. “Most of them do not even know which documents are required to apply for recognition. So, they end up following up multiple times with the education department, and are harassed unnecessarily,” said Shelar.
“I have also directed them (the education department) to put up all the necessary documents on the website so that private school authorities do not end up coming again and again for renewal of recognition,” he added.
While the RTE Act completed three years in 2013, many schools from ICSE, CBSE, IGCSE, IB and the central government have rushed to apply for fresh recognition only last year.
The schools were asked to submit details under 10 basic parameters like infrastructure, whether they have separate toilets for boys and girls, a playground, clean drinking water and so on. The state government also wants to know whether the schools are following the 25 per cent quota for economically backward students, one of the salient features of the RTE Act.
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