BENGALURU: Many private schools which have been functioning for decades, run the risk of closing down due to regulations being imposed from 2018. The new regulations mandate fire safety and Public Works Department (PWD) approvals among others, in order for schools to get renewal of recognition.
Shashi Kumar, general secretary of the Associated Management of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka (KAMS), said that some of the regulations are not possible to comply with, and implementing them will come at a huge cost to schools. He wrote to the Chief Minister regarding the issue, asking for school fee regulations to be revised so as to account for the cost of implementing the new regulations.
“All old institutions have been religiously following safety regulations. However, getting fire safety and PWD approvals comes at a huge cost to the schools,” he said. In the letter to the CM, he highlighted all measures taken to ensure the safety of children in schools. He asked the CM to constitute a separate committee to frame guidelines for private schools regarding fire and building safety.
Previously, the Public Works Department had asked schools to submit a building structural stability certificate, with schools having to pay 0.5 per cent of the building’s valuation. Similarly, several other regulations had been imposed on private schools that have previously been running for decades before. “It’s not humanly possible to put these regulations in place, it’ll also entail a massive fee hike,” Shashi Kumar said.