Education dept begins listing schools in Pune

In order to ensure that schools comply with the right to education (RTE) reservation policy, State Deputy Director of Education and PMC's education officer Rajchandra Jadhav said that the education department has started listing schools across the city, especially those that have applied for the minority tag.u00a0Schools will have to display the lists of students of general and reserved categories and submit the details with the Sarv Sikshan Abhiyan.

The committee set up by the board will randomly check the conditions of all schools in the city, including toilets, classrooms, laboratory, computers, staff and sitting arrangements. If requirements are not met, the schools will be given notices. u00a0If any school claims it is a minority unaided school, it will have to submit documents in support of it. The committee has listed about 40 schools which have been running under the minority status.

"We are in the process of checking the status of all schools. We'll also inspect land and infrastructure, which is allotted to such schools under the minority quota by the minority commission. We'll take action against schools if they don't meet with the criteria or implement the RTE guidelines" Jadhav said.

As per the department's new guidelines for minority status, schools will have to prove that at least 50 per cent of their students, trustees and management members belong to a minority community.

The government has also revised its rules for admitting students from the reserved category, as it has annulled the deadline set earlier for schools to implement the guidelines. Schools can now admit students all through the year.u00a0