Over 20K kids in unauthorised private schools: BMC

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has listed 216 schools across the 24 civic wards which are running without acquiring a legal permission from the civic body or the state government. The list has revealed that more than 20,000 kids in these schools are receiving education from unauthorised schools.

"There was a total of 231 schools which were termed as unauthorized but only 15 of them submitted their documents last year got the state government's recognition, " said BMC's Education Officer, Mahesh Palkar.

Of the 216 unauthorized schools listed, the maximum are located in the Govandi-Mankhurd area. The other areas include Bhandup, Kurla, Malad, Kandivali, Borivali, Dahisar, Dadar, Wadala, Antop Hill and Jogeshwari.

"We have sent notices to the schools and asked them to shift the students to the nearest municipal school. We also request the parents to not admit their schools to the unauthorised schools in the next academic year. But, we cannot compulsorily ask the students to move. The parents should also be aware," Palkar said.

Lashing out at BMC's lethargy in shutting the unauthorized schools, Nitai Mehta, the Managing Trustee of the Praja Foundation said, "Despite having Rs 2,400 crore as education budget, the BMC has failed to maintain its schools. The people who suffer are poor and uneducated. BMC has a bad reputation with its schools and thus, the lower income group prefers to spend money and admit their children in private schools. But due to the lack of education and awareness, they land up admitting their kids to unauthorized schools."