Little Elly drives education officials mad

Hyderabad: Senior officials in the State School Education Department (SSED) came in for a rude shock when they found that the staff at the district level submitted different reports on a school to different agencies, including Deputy Chief Minister Kadiyam Srihari.

All this activity followed after the Deputy CM referred a petition which he had received from parents that their child was ill treated at a school. One report that went to the deputy CM said that that the school was served a closure notice after inspection following the petition being referred to them.

The other report that was submitted to superiors was after deputy inspector of school’s response to the parents under RTI that the school had no permission.

Finally, when the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights sought a report from the collector after receipt of a petition from the parents, the collector sent a report to the commission that the school did apply for permission on department’s web portal but no permission was given for the school.

The entire issue began unfolding when the deputy chief minister sent the petition to them endorsing it on February 12, this year. The petition was submitted to him by parents of a four-and-half years old Abdul Kalam (name changed) studying in the Little Elly Pre-School, located in the Veterinary Colony, Filmnagar in the city. The parents in their representation alleged that their child was ill-treated.

The education department launched an investigation on receipt of the endorsed petition from the deputy CM’s office. An investigation report of the Deputy Education Officer, Khairatabad Zone has been submitted to the District Education Officer (DEO), Hyderabad on March 14. The report, apart from its findings on the issue of the ill-treatment to the child, had pointed out that the "Little Elly is a franchise institution and that it was neither permitted by the State government nor was it affiliated to the CBSE."

The report further said that the school has been functioning for the last three academic years without applying for pre-primary recognition. There is no fire safety equipment installed and there were no proper sanitary facilities and the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) did not inspect the premises. Besides, the school has been running without police clearance certificate, structure soundness certificate, no staff records were maintained and no society registration is done.

Subsequent to this, on March 19, the Deputy Education Officer, Khairatabad Zone had slapped a closure notice on the Little Elly, citing the provisions of the RTE Act, 2009, Andhra Pradesh Education Act, 1992, a government order of 1994. The notice was received by the Little Elly on March 20, this year, the sources said.

Then, the Deputy Inspector of Schools, Shaikpet mandal on April 3 while responding to an RTI petition of the parents of the child, said that his office had not forwarded permission proposals for the Littel Elly Pre-School" to the authorities concerned, implying that the school was running without permission and that no yearly inspections were being done to renew licence of the school.

As they did not get any reply from the education department on the complaint that their child was ill-treated, his parents approached the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR). In turn, the commission had asked the district administration to take necessary action and submit an action taken report (ATR).

Interestingly no ATR was sent to the commission. Taking umbrage to the inaction, the commission's member Priyanka Kanoongo issued a show cause notice on May 4, this year to the Hyderabad District Collector Yogita Rana to send the ATR within 10 days or she will have to be called for personal appearance before the commission under CPCR Act, 2005.

It was against this backdrop that a reply to the show cause notice was submitted by the District Collector on May 5 which said: “The school has not been issued any license or is recognized by the education department. The School administration submitted that they applied for a license in the web portal of commissioner and director of school education on April 29, 2016, and waiting for the license."

The senior officials in the education department are worried now over what explanation they have to offer to the Deputy CM when he seeks one from them on the issue. Further, Speaking to The Hans India, a senior official from the education department said that the NCPCR had asked the parents of the child for their comments on the report submitted to it.

By VRC Phaniharan