BENGALURU: The High Court of Karnataka has directed the principal secretary of the education department to formulate a detailed action plan for government schools to comply with norms that have been mandatory for private schools.
The court also directed the principal secretary to create a portal providing details of compliances to be made by each school, conditions imposed for provisional recognition, and enabling the school to upload the compliances made from time to time. This portal should be linked to all departments concerned so that all permissions and sanctions about a particular school at a specific location can be automatically secured, the court said.
Justice Suraj Govindaraj passed the order while disposing of the petitions filed by the Organisation for Unaided Recognised Schools and others, questioning the 2022 circular issued by the education department directing them to obtain and furnish a structural stability certificate, plan sanction about the building where the school is being run and make available fire safety facilities.
The court said, unfortunately, as can be seen, the department is granting provisional recognition before the requirements under the rules are complied with by providing a timeframe of one year for compliance. However, as regards the said compliance, no methodology is followed by the department to ensure whether the conditions have been complied with or not. The court remarked that, in the absence of such compliance, the department has been granting recognition to schools without collecting the necessary documents after the provisional recognition is issued, prior to the granting of final recognition.
Before this, while questioning the circular, the counsel of the petitioners argued that the circular is applicable to private schools, which are unaided, but is not applicable and not adhered to by government schools.
Noting that this appears to be a major problem to be addressed by the government, the court said the state should also follow the rules, regulations and obligations which it had imposed on private individuals or organisations. There is no exemption for the state, the court added.
Meanwhile, considering the petitioners' service, the court granted them time till the commencement of the next academic year to comply with the circular.