HC nod sought for new English schools

State Government will seek permission from High Court for allotment of the new English medium schools in the State. “The master plan has been prepared as per the High Court’s directions and deals with the allotment of the Marathi medium schools.

It is ready for submission in the court,” said school education minister, Vasant Purke on Monday. Rampant allotment of the schools was challenged last year in the High Court. The High Court had asked the State to prepare a master plan earmarking need for schools.  The plan which is the pre-condition for sanctioning schools was delayed due to several reasons.

“The plan is almost ready now and includes scenario of school education for the next 20 years,” Purke said. It considers the population of the districts, its density, area, number of students, availability of the teachers and several other factors.

Only Marathi medium — aided as well as unaided schools — come under the purview of the plan and nearly 1441 schools throughout the State are questioned at the High Court.

“We have been fighting the issue but want to go ahead with the sanction of the English Medium Schools, which are in demand and for which we received thousands of applications. As the plan does not cover English medium schools, the court should not have objection for the allotment but we are seeking permission just to be on the safer side,” Purke said.