No takers for schools' amnesty

As per the RTE Act, it is mandatory for every unrecognised school to apply for recognition. But the shocking aspect is that there are 497 unrecognised schools in the city. Moreover, these schools are collecting huge sums of money as fees from the students. In order to clamp down on the menace and to bring the offenders to book, the Education Department organised a mela for unrecognised schools to apply for regularisation by paying a fine of Rs 5,000 in December. But not many schools (just 13 applied) came forward at the mela. The department now plans to organise another mela from January 21 to 23. However, civil societies are against the move who demand sops for government schools instead.

The academic year is in its final quarter and a staggering 497 schools are unrecognised in the city as against 200 schools during the last academic year. This number is not only spreading jitters among parents but also among officials of the Education Department.

A school will be recognised only if it meets the set standards and if the teachers are all trained. However, with schools popping up in every basthi and in small buildings, the standards are compromised. The Right to Education Act also stipulates that untrained teachers shouldn’t be allowed to teach in a school. For the past two years, the Education Department has been hell bent on keeping a tab on these unrecognised schools.

Some say that the unrecognised schools pop up because of the alleged corruption within the Education Department. Though a rule in Rajiv Vidya Mission (RVM) states that a fine of Rs 1 lakh should be imposed on schools running without proper recognition,but it is not being implemented properly.

In a review meeting held at the Collectorate in December, Mukesh Kumar Meena, Hyderabad Collector, directed the Education Department officials to organise a mandalwise mela in the district. A mela was organised in the latter half of December in a phased manner. The mela offered a golden opportunity for all the unrecognised schools, wherein if a school paid a meagre fine of Rs 5,000, it would be granted recognition. But, to the dismay of the officials of the department, only 13 schools came forward to cough up the fine at the special drive. Out of 497 unrecognised schools, 75 were either not running or closed, 111 have applied for an Evaluation Team Report (ETR), 146 applications were pending at mandal offices and 152 schools were unresponsive to the mela.

“There are still schools that are unrecognised and students studying in those schools are paying huge amounts as fees. We met the officials at the collectorate in the first week of January, and decided to run the special drive again from January 21,” said an official at the Education Department.

In a press statement issued by the district collectorate, it was mandated that 152 schools in various zones that were unresponsive to the mela have to apply for recognition on January 21 to 23, else the schools will be closed and sealed from the next academic year.

Achyuta Rao, founder of Balala Hakkula Sangham, flayed the move by the Education Department to recognise the schools. “Those schools don’t have any parameters mentioned in the RTE Act. Giving them permission by collecting Rs 5,000 is not justified.

Instead of offering sops to private schools, the department should concentrate on providing impetus to government schools,” he said.