Government to regulate private schools: Tanveer Sait

Bengaluru: In the light of issues pertaining to students’ safety, availability of RTE seats and uniform fee structure at private schools, the state government is planning to regulate managements of private schools, irrespective of the board they are affiliated to. Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Tanveer Sait told Deccan Chronicle on Sunday that amendments to the Karnataka Educational Institutions Rules (1999) will be notified by the end of November.

“The education department will act as a regulatory body to look into various issues across all schools in the state including those with regard to how students are being treated, admitted via RTE, and the fee collected by the managements at different levels. The draft rules are now in the process of getting cabinet approval,” he said. The Minister added that the department is trying to ensure that equal prominence and justice are provided to all stakeholders – the students, parents and school managements, concerning all issues related to the education system in the state.

Giving student safety a priority he said the amendment will also ensure that the school managements will be held entirely responsible for any unpleasant situations and any staff member (teaching or non-teaching), if found guilty, would undergo imprisonment. Elaborating on RTE-related issues, the Minister continued that while the parent community was pushing the government to enhance and extend the policy demanding more seats, managements had been writing to them requesting to curb the quota in order to minimise the additional problems they have been facing with respect to RTE.

“Considering all sides, the government is at present reconsidering bringing drastic changes to the policy, giving practicality of the matter a priority. A working atmosphere for processes such as fee reimbursement and designing a fee structure is being looked into from multiple perspectives so as to avoid confusions and uncertainties regarding the matter henceforth,” he said.

According to Mr Sait, as many as 5,19,000 students have been admitted to various schools across the state under the RTE quota as of now. “With Karnataka being one among the seven states in the country to successfully implement the policy, the government is keen to better the practical aspects of it. RTE in the state will be regulated in order to provide more transparency and opportunities to more in the near future,” he said.

Teachers’ salary delay
When quizzed about confusions regarding the payment of the November salary to government primary and secondary school teachers with regard to the adjustment of the special allowance being withdrawn, Mr Sait clarified that the government has not taken any decision as such not to pay them. Reacting to various media reports of government schools being sent closure notices from the department, the minister said that opportunities for the schools to better their results will be given as the matter affects the future of thousands of students across the state.