Mumbai: The corporate houses and others willing to adopt government schools won't be allowed to interfere in the management of these institutes, the state has clarified about its plan of involving private philanthropy to upgrade education infrastructure.
According to a government resolution (GR) issued on Monday, while the guardian organisations or persons need to commit to spending anywhere between Rs 50 lakh and Rs 3 crore over a period of five or 10 years on their respective adopted schools, their donations will be unconditional and won't create any obligations on the school management. The donors won't be able to claim any ownership of the articles provided by them but will have to arrange for their periodic maintenance.
Government Seeks to Enhance Public School Facilities
The GR follows the state cabinet's decision to let businesses, social organisations and even individual philanthropists adopt government-run schools across the state. Through this initiative, the government hopes to utilise Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds to improve facilities at public schools.
The resolution lays out the procedure as well as the terms and conditions for supporting the schools, while providing a suggestive list of articles and services that can be felicitated by the donors. The conditions seek to address the concerns expressed by some educationists about involving private entities in public education institutes.
Refuting the possibility of any conflict between the potential donors and school management committees (SMC), an official from the state School Education department said, "Everyone is on the same page about this scheme."
According to GR, the guardian organisations and persons won't be able to make monetary donations and can only provide help in the form of goods and services, including basic amenities (water tanks, toilets, protection wall), electric appliances, educational resources (boards, books and desks), digital equipment (computers, tablets, smart TVs), healthcare facilities and counselling and training to students and teachers.
Committees to Ensure Effective Implementation
Coordination committees will be formed at the state as well as regional levels to carry out the scheme. These bodies will scrutinise and approve proposals from prospective donors and will also monitor the adopted institutes.
However, the educationists continue to be apprehensive about the programme. Francis Joseph, a city-based education expert said that, with the guardian organisations being kept at bay, the scheme appears to be more of a donation drive, rather than an adoption programme. "The most important thing is not the availability of material but how they will be put to use. There have been instances of tablets donated to government schools gathering dust. The donations should be accompanied by training for educators and maintenance of equipment to ensure that they remain sustainable in the long run," he said.
Potential Impact on Underprivileged Regions Like Marathwada
On the other hand, Kishore Darak, an Ahmednagar-based educationist, believes that the programme will allow the government to withdraw from the education sector while exacerbating its disparity. "The CSR support in Maharashtra is concentrated mainly in western Maharashtra, around Pune and Mumbai. Such decisions will certainly create further inequality among regions, impoverishing Marathwada further. It is ironic that the government has taken this decision of increasing regional inequality in Aurangabad, on the eve of the 75th anniversary of Marathwada Mukti Sangram," he said.
