PAYING FOR, AND NOT GETTING IT

 

 

ducation can send people to jail in Haryana! Some 20,000 private schools have been asked to shut down, affecting 25 lakh students in a State with a literacy rate of 68.59%, which is higher than the national literacy rate of 65.45%. Haryana claims to have at least one primary school within the radius of a kilometre. There is a middle-level school within the radius of 1.87 km and every 2.1 km has a high school. Also, Haryana has amongst the best admission rates.

Now, a good number of owners of unrecognised schools can be visited in Chandigarh's Burail jail – after the Haryana government has decided to uphold the School Education Rules 2003 with a few amendments. These norms will come in force from 1 April and the teachers of the affected schools are protesting. Talking to TSI, Education Minister Phool Chand Mulana said, “We have brought about amendments in the rules only after having spoken with the representatives of unrecognised schools. Therefore, new rules need to be observed.” As per the School Education Rules 2007, private schools need to fulfil 45 conditions to get affiliation. The last date to apply for affiliation is 31 March. Seeing the rules in isolation might lead us to believe that the new norms have been formulated to provide better facilitation for education. For instance, the area for a primary school in an urban place should not be less than 350 yards (in other words, classrooms should not be less than 18x24 sq ft so that every student gets enough place to sit). Also, it is mandatory for schools to have a playground. Says Mulana, “We want to raise the level of education of the private schools as well.”

The School Education Rules were formulated in 2003, during the Om Prakash Chautala government, but not implemented because of protests. The current Congress government has amended them. The new norms have reduced the area required for primary schools from half an acre to 350 yards. They don't mention the salary to be paid to teachers. No step has been taken to put a check on the student fees. Almost by rote, many private schools put in almost two times the capacity of a classroom. The TSI team also found teachers in some private schools below the required standards of qualification and with no training. Some of them were Class 12 passouts and were teaching, like in Kaithal district. But why the fuss over private schools?

A NSSO survey says that primary level admissions in government schools is decreasing though it is free. On the other hand, the number of private schools is doubling every five years (Haryana has 18.7% of its students in private schools). Hence private schools play an important role in providing education. Closing them is not a solution. The government must instead help these schools build the necessary infrastructure and forge PPPs (Public Private Partnerships)