End of the road
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The state government will close down all the unrecognised unaided schools from the next academic year. It has begun the process of scrutinising recognition applications of schools and those found wanting would be closed down.
Sources close to General Education department said that the department had begun the proceedings to give schools, including those from CBSE and ICSE streams, complying with Right To Education (RTE) Act and Kerala Education Rules (KER) norms, No Objection Certificate (NOC). “The schools can apply to the state government for recognition now. If the schools are incompliant and hence remain unrecognised will be closed by the government from next academic year,” A Shahjahan, General Education secretary, said. The criteria applies to state syllabus schools as well.
Four months ago following complaints on the quality of education at private unrecognised schools, the General Education Department had allowed students from these schools to join government or aided schools from the beginning of this academic year. The move aimed to deter the mushrooming of unrecognised schools in the state. The order said students of Class I to Class VIII can continue their next grade in government/aided schools without a transfer certificate. For students of Class IX and Class X, an entrance examination was mandatory.
As per the statistics available with the Education Department, 1,585 unrecognised schools are functioning in the state. While 1,194 schools applied for recognition last year, only 395 schools received it. Last year, the department had asked all unaided unrecognised schools to close down and enrol their students studying in Classes I to VIII at the nearby government or aided schools. However, the government could act on it only this year.
As per the RTE rule, no elementary school (from Classes I to VIII) can function without the state government’s recognition. When the RTE Act was implemented in the state in 2011, a three-year time frame was given to all unaided schools to obtain a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the state government subject to fulfilment of stringent conditions. In 2015, schools were given another opportunity to obtain NOC, with penalty prescribed for institutions not falling in line. Subsequently, around 600 schools, which managed to obtain affiliation from the CBSE or the ICSE, were given NOC by the state government.