The State Government on Tuesday asked private schools functioning in the State not to engage in commercialisation of education.
Chairing a meeting held at State Secretariat, State Education Minister Arvind Pandey said they should follow the provision laid down in the Universal Rights to Education (RTE).
The meeting was attended by representatives of Udham Singh Nagar Association of Independent schools (UAOIS) and Principal Progressive Schools Association (PPSA).
The meeting was organised to draw attention of private schools on large number of complaints by the parents regarding their functioning.
The Minister said the State Government was committed to bring improvement in the educational environment in the State and for it the private schools should also play their role. The Uttarakhand Government would soon bring new education Act in the State, the Minister informed.
Pandey further said there was an urgent need to bring down per student expenditure in State which he claimed was highest in the country. He said there was no doubt that the private schools were rendering a very good service to the society but in many schools blatant commercialisation was being done due to which there was genuine resentment among the public.
The Minister informed that in many schools additional fees under the heads like building construction and others were being levied on the parents which is against RTE.
He warned action against those schools found engaged charging undue fees and said all schools should disclose their fee structure so that the parents were aware about the fee and the heads it was being charged.
Pandey also asked the schools not to charge caution money from the students. laying stress on the use of books of National Council for Education Research and Training (NCERT) in the schools Pandey said State Government would get the NCERT books printed and distribute them to all the schools on time.
He said that all schools should send their demand of NCERT books on time. Pandey said that the teachers can also submit their suggestions for improvement in the books of NCERT. He said that efforts should be made for creation of an academic environment in the schools and warned that stern action would be taken against those found involved in mental and physical harassment of students. The minister directed that only trained and TET qualified teachers should be appointed in the schools. He also warned against harassment of teachers of the private schools.
The meeting was attended by the Director General (DG) school education, Captain Alok Shekhar Tiwari, Director Education R K Kunwar, President of UAOIS
Nayab Singh Dhaliwal, President of PPSA Dehradun Prem Kashyap and others.