Annoyed with the approach of private school managements lobby over continuous fees hike and other steps, members of Federation of Jharkhand Parents Association here on Saturday staged protest against the State government’s approach for allowing private schools to act irresponsibly flouting the prescribed norms.
Several protesters, who gathered near Mahatma Gandhi’s statue at Morhabadi Ground, opined that it is only due to the government’s apathy that by far no serious attempts have been made to pass the Private School Fee Regulation and Control Act. Some of them stated that deliberate attempts are being made to safeguard private cradles interest. To register the outrage, the nationwide protest was organised across 22 States between 11 AM to 3 PM under the banner All India Parents’ Association.
With list of demands that primarily covers bringing in one policy to regulate private schools functioning under ‘One Nation One Policy’, implementation of Right to Education (RTE) strictly for admitting Below Poverty line (BPl) kids as per the Supreme Court guidelines, bringing all private schools under Right to Information (RTI) jurisdiction, constitution of State Advisor Council and District Education Appellate Authority involving the local authorities are a few major issues raised during the protest.
Also, the agitators demanded immediate implementation of Delhi State Education Act-1973 for ensuring quality education besides putting a check on private schools operation that increases fees beyond the prescribed limits annually despite being familiar with the norms.
“Making all private schools to follow CBSE and ICSE board regulations as mentioned on their respective websites, organisation of camps in all 24 districts under the aegis of Jharkhand Education Tribunal in association with Jharkhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (JSCPCR) while fixing the responsibilities of DEOs and DSEs over the issues like results of students including affiliation of private schools have been also taken into consideration for protecting the interest of parents/guardians who are being exploited since long,” said, Federation of Jharkhand Parents’ Association, president, Ajay Rai.
Meanwhile, according to the parents association merely 10 to 12 private schools in Capital City by far have uploaded the details of book-lists, fees structure etc on its official website. However, in order to maintain transparency, the district administration officials had asked all private schools to bring the details of book-lists prescribed for each class, fee structure etc in public domain by January 31.