Mumbai News: Fate of 35,000 students in balance, as 210 unauthorised schools face closure

Mumbai: With the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) threatening to close down 210 unauthorised schools in the city, over 35,000 schoolchildren studying at these institutes are facing an uncertain future.

The civic body, which has already shut 62 unauthorised schools this academic year, had issued notices to these schools asking them to acquire necessary permission from the state government or face closure. However, with barely a month to go before the new academic year, the schools are yet to furnish the permits.

The bulk of these schools are from a list of 674 private establishments flagged by the state education department as lacking various docuemhts such as No-objection Certificate, Affiliation Certificate and Authorisation Certificate. The state education commissioner, in a letter issued in April, had directed education officials across the state to act against these unauthorised schools running in their respective jurisdictions.

The officials have been asked to levy penalties, shut down schools and even register criminal cases against the management as required by the end of April. The students at these schools are to be enrolled in nearby institutes.

However, except for issuing notices, the civic body is yet to take any action against the school. "We very much want to shut down these schools, unless they get permission from the state," said an official from BMC's education department.

The civic body is yet to chart a plan for shifting these students to other schools in the city. "We have asked the education inspectors to map schools in the vicinity of these unauthorized schools. We will preferably adjust the affected students in the government-run or private aided schools," said the civic official.

However, the activists remain wary of moving such a large number of students around.

"There are a number of issues to be considered. There should be a school with adequate infrastructure in the neighborhood willing to take these students, as they can't be sent far away. In case their new schools are at a distance, will the government arrange buses for them? And how will students be adjusted in other schools without affecting their student-teacher ratio?" said Nitin Dalvi of Maharashtra State Student-Parent Teacher Federation.

Dalvi has suggested the state appoint a task force to iron out these problems and issue a government resolution (GR) to ensure that the students are not required to pay more fees than what their existing schools charged them.

Meanwhile, Yuva Sena, the youth wing of Shiv Sena (Uddhav Thackeray faction), has demanded that the civic body start its own schools in the localities where the unathorised schools have sprung up.

"The unauthorised schools are being run in the areas having large lower middle-class population but no government schools. We request the education department to start new schools in these areas to secure the future of students, while ensuring no financial burden on their parents, read a letter by the organisation to to the BMC education officer.