It appears that the Education department is only a mute spectator of open loot of the private schools. On specific orders of District Magistrate of Dehradun, the Chief Education Officer (CEO) SP Khali on February 27 had asked the Block Education Officers (BEOs) to ensure that the private schools follow norms on fees and constitute Parent Teacher Association (PTA) in their schools. But it is learnt that the order is kept in cold storage as the department officials do not have the courage to take on the mighty private school owners.
On persistent complaints of many parents about arbitrary increase of fees by the private schools, the CEO of Dehradun issued orders to BEOs that the private schools follow the Government Order (GO) regarding fees. The GO mandates that the increase in fees of the private schools is rational and any increment should be done only after three years.
The order also asked the BEOs to ensure that every school in their jurisdiction constitutes PTA having 80 per cent representation of parents. Similarly, the BEOs were also asked to ensure that these schools do not force the parents to purchase the books and stationery from specific book shops. The purpose of constituting PTAs in the schools is to put some check in functioning of the private schools hitherto working in an arbitrary manner.
The president of Uttarakhand Parents Association Niraj Singhal told The Pioneer that all the BEOs are sitting on the order of CEO. The members of association had staged a protest at the office of BEO Sahaspur on March 17 for implementation of the order. Singhal said the association would intensify its agitation in coming days.
He said that the private schools are continuing with their tactics of minting money from the parents of their students. The association though has started forming its branches in the private schools of city. On Wednesday, the parents of the children studying in Saint Patrick School and Saint Mary’s Convent school both located in Clement town area of city constituted branches of association in these schools.
When contacted by The Pioneer, the CEO of Dehradun expressed ignorance when asked about the action taken by the department on his orders. He said that since he is busy in the ensuing board examination, he would look in the matter after April 1. Khali however added that stern action would be taken against those schools who are harassing the parents.