The assurance of the Chief Minister Harish Rawat on the floor of the state assembly that the state government would soon bring in a private school regulatory authority bill has evoked positive reaction from the common people and Parents Association. The Chief Minister intervened when the State education minister, Mantri Prasad Naithani was responding to a question raised by the BJP MlA, Ganesh Joshi on the hegemony of private school operators and said that the government is in process of finalizing the bill which would prevent the harassment of the parents.
When contacted, the President of All Uttarakhand Parents Association (AUPA), Neeraj Singhal welcomed the declaration of the Chief Minister in state assembly on regulatory authority. He said that the government should not delay the bill as the new session in the schools is about to start and the schools take decisions like increase of fees, textbooks and uniforms at the start of the session. On government’s claim that it is seeking opinion of all stake holders on the bill, Singhal said that the government should first prepare a draft of the proposed bill, bring it in public domain before seeking opinion on it.
The AUPA is demanding creation of a regulatory authority for a long time; it is of the opinion that the schools should be allowed to increase fees only once in three years and the increase should not be more than 10 percent. The body of the parents is also demanding that Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs) should be constituted in all the schools and the schools should be asked to subscribe the books of National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) to the students. The association is of the view that the provisions of the Universal Right to Education (RTE) should be implemented in its letter and spirit.
Manvedra Bisht, a resident of Raipur road said that the some sort of regulation is necessary to rein in the private school operators who flout every rule and are engaged in open loot of the parents.
Arti Balodi, a resident of Defence Colony and mother of a class VI student said government should clearly define the limit to which these private schools can increase their fees and should also ensure the infrastructure facilities and qualification of teaching staff of these schools.
It is estimated that there are more than four thousand private schools in the state where lakhs of students are enrolled.