About 2000 private schools in Karnataka have themselves under the state government's scanner for alleged violation of norms. As the government threatens to shut all schools that are running without proper certifications, CNBC-TV18’s Poornima Murali and Kritika Saxena report that the fate of almost 4 lakh students hangs in the balance.
About 2000 private unaided schools in Karnataka stare the possibility of a blanket closure. The reason: the state government's claim that most of these schools have been functioning without valid recognition.
Says Kimmane Rathnakar, Karnataka education minister, “We will shut schools that are running without valid recognition. We have asked parents to look at recognised school and have told other schools to admit children.”
However, that's little comfort for parents and students as they anxiously wait for some clarity. The government has constituted a 5-member committee which will be scrutinizing all schools in the state and submitting its report by end of November. Schools found to be violating state government rules will be shut down.
Says Mohammad Mohsin, commissioner for public instruction: “We have said that parents will be a part of the committee so that we should not get incorrect information and there should not be any misleading or cheating at an official level. We have fixed timing of 1 month where state wide survey will be taken up and then take a decision on what has to be done.”
“About 2000 schools are said to be serious violations though we are not sure of. After survey, we’ll know the exact figure,” he added.
The Karnataka government claims that schools have been violating various norms and have not been clear on their affiliation certificates. According to officials, several schools claim to be under the CBSE and ICSE boards without having proper affiliation.
With the prospect of closure looming over them, private unaided schools are now coming together to mobilise support.
A body of private schools - the National Independent Schools Alliance has now written to the Karnataka Education Department asking for relief.
Says Rohan Joshi, School Choice Campaign, “The main category of people who are going to get affected by this decision or even outcome of this survey -- let's say for example the survey actually comes up with a data that this schools are not recognized -- are going to be children who are studying in these schools. On an average, there are about 250-260 children per school so by that around 3.5 lakh children in the state are going to get affected by such a decision and that definitely is a huge impact if you look at the number itself.”
While the state government goes about its task of verifying school affiliation and recognition, the fate of around 4 lakh students in Karnataka hangs in the balance. The academic community now awaits the state panel's report as it lists out alleged defaulters and clarifies which schools will remain open.
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