Though the implementation of Maharashtra Educational Institutions (Regulations of Fee) Act 2011 has been made applicable for all schools including the pre-primary section, parent associations are still unclear regarding the government department under which the section falls. Another question that has arisen is whether this Act will be applicable to independent pre-primary schools that are not attached to primary and secondary schools.
Who's responsible for pre-primary?
Till date, there is no clear picture regarding which governing body is responsible for the pre-primary section. This created a lot of problems for the education department during admissions in this section, especially under the 25 percent quota. There are many pre-primary schools that are run independently in city. The Forum for Fairness in Education (FFFE) is also writing a letter to the government objecting to the lottery selection of executive parent committees by schools.
Parent bodyspeak
Jayant Jain, president, FFFE, said, "Now since the pre-primary section is included in the Fee Regulation Act, we wonder which governing body we should approach. Till yesterday there was no governing body to monitor this section. The pre-primary was not coming under the BMC nor the deputy director of the school education department. Who should parents approach in case they want to make complaints?"
Jain added, "After going through the provisions of the Act and various judgments, we came to the conclusion that the government cannot delegate its powers to any other authority/individuals/association. The important aspect is that the said PTA Executive Committee is incompetent, inexperienced, with no knowledge on deciding fees. Moreover, it is not a statutory body which can be held responsible for any misdeeds as there is no provision in the Act where penal action can be initiated on the committee if there is any manipulation. This committee consists of pre-primary, primary and Secondary parents, which decides the fee structure."
Arundhati Chauhan, president, the United Forum, said, "The state government's education department should now be clear about who will be governing this pre-primary section. Also, there are a lot of independent pre-primary schools that are not attached to schools. Will this Act be applicable to them too?"
Officials pass the buck
The deputy director of school education, B D Fadtare, said, "The pre-primary section will now come under BMC as primary also comes under them. The act will also be applicable on independent pre-primary schools."
However, Vinod Shelar, chairman, BMC education committee, said, "The pre-primary section does not come under any governing body. I have raised this issue earlier also. Because of this, many pre-primary schools are mushrooming in the city. Moreover, because there is no governing body on pre-primary, schools take donations from this section itself as there is no body to take action against them."
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