Mumbai: Dy director of school education says he did his job

Two days after midday published a report about the directorate of education primary schools issuing a show cause notice to the deputy director of school education Mumbai for inaction against schools violating RTE norms the latter has clarified that despite not submitting lsquoIndex IIrsquo document mandatory under RTE act the 218 schools cannot be declared unauthorised Sangwe also said that he has replied to the show cause notice explaining the sameSangwe told midday that information shared by the complainants is ldquodistortedrdquo and ldquoincompleterdquo as he has already issued orders to the BMCrsquos education department to initiate action against schools violating normsIn an emailed clarification regarding the matter to midday Sangwe stated ldquoI was instructed by the directorate of education primary Pune to inquire into the complaint received through Nitin Dalvi regarding taking action against unauthorised schools in the state as per the provisions of the Right to Education RTE Act According to the given instructions through this office the education officer of the department concerned Brihannambal was informed about a report being submitted in this regardrdquoAccording to the email to midday an official letter dated August 8 2023 sent to Brihannambal stated that while extending the approval period of the primary schools run by private institutions in the BMC area it is necessary to submit uptodate nodamage and building stability certificates as well as details on other physical amenities provided by the school management ldquoOnly then these schools are granted an extension of the approval periodrdquoThe letter said there are 678 recognised private primary unaided schools in the BMC area out of which 218 schools have not reaccredited IndexII These 218 schools have been sent letters by the education department from time to time in this regard ldquoSo it cannot be said that these 218 unaided schools are unauthorised Therefore it would not be appropriate to declare these schools as unauthorised and take action against them like unauthorised schoolsrdquoAccording to Sangwe Nitin Dalvi was informed in a letter dated September 1 that a report on the matter was sent within the prescribed time to the directorate of education primary PuneMeanwhile Dalvi and Prasad Tulaskar from the NGO Maharashtra State Student Parents Teacher Federation who are the complainants in this matter have raised concerns about the relevance of RTE norms in this case ldquoThe failure of the state education department and BMC education department to take action against schools lacking RTE approval which is a mandatory clause in the RTE Act raises questions about the effectiveness of the RTE Act and its implementation Despite sending reminders as claimed by the officials to noncompliant schools it is evident that these institutions are not taking the education department and its officials seriouslyrdquo remarked TulaskarDalvi said ldquoUnder the RTE Act it is a statutory requirement that no school can operate without a governmentissued certificate of recognition The BMC is responsible for granting recognition certificates to primary schools Getting this recognition certificate and renewing it in the stipulated time is mandatory and it also ensures that the schools are complying with RTE norms Even if these schools are unauthorised like the deputy director Sangwe has been saying they have to follow RTE Act We have also sent a legal notice to the education department and the BMC in the matterrdquoAlso read Mumbai Someonersquos stealing our customers with false claims says AirtelApplied after deadlineThe BMC is the statutory body issuing the recognition certificate for primary schools As per BMC officials while some of the 218 schools have failed to renew their recognition for as long as 2016 some have applied after the deadline given to themDalvi added ldquoThe report they finally submitted in August seemed to us like the department is playing down the matter We are not asking the department to declare these schools unauthorised we have been only demanding that they be made to follow the RTE Act and its normsrdquoOfficialSpeakSpeaking to midday Suraj Mandhare state commissioner of education said ldquoWe have a proposal currently under consideration by the state government aimed at addressing and resolving the ongoing issue Our focus is on finding a practical approach to tackle the matter At present education officials are engaged in discussions with noncompliant schools to understand the reasons behind the lack of adherence to normsrdquoAccording to Mandhare there are approximately 65000 private schools in the state and if they all simultaneously submit renewal applications it poses a logistical challenge for the department to thoroughly check and verify each proposal with the existing staff and machineryldquoTo streamline the process and promote ease of doing business I have suggested extending the renewal timeline from three years to five or 10 years Education department officials may conduct random visits to inspect schools within their respective areas for compliance anytime during the year This suggestion is currently under consideration Meanwhile our commitment remains ensuring that schools strictly adhere to the mandatory rules outlined in the Right to Education Actrdquo he saidProminent defaultersSome of the prominent schools that failed to get their RTE recognition approval renewed include Anandilal Podar High School Santacruz Raje Shivaji primary school Dadar St Michaelrsquos high school Mahim St Andrews High School primary section Bandra St Aloysius primary school Santacruz The Alexandra Girls High School Fort Gloria Convent Byculla St Pius X High School Nahur Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan Vidyalaya Borivali Rustomjee Troopers Dahisar VPMs Vidya Mandir primary school Dahisar