CHENNAI: All private and government schools across the State are being inspected across the State to ensure compliance with building regulations and safety norms. However, private school owners allege that officials are using the inspection to intimidate them.
The inspection is the result of a High Court order from earlier this year that asked the State to check schools for implementation of safety standards. The inspection that started in the first week of May was supposed to be completed by May 15. However, a few schools are still being inspected. Private school owners alleged that officials go slack on government schools and intimidate private schools instead.
“Every school has to have a batch of certificates issued by the government, before they get to run the school. When we have already complied with all standards, the government is simply using these inspection as a chance to harass and intimidate us for money,” said VK Palaniappan, State general secretary of All India Private Educational Institutions Association. He added that no member belonging to private schools was included in the inspection committee.
“They expect a lot of norms from us. To have so many toilets, so many fans and so on. Government schools are not checked fro such things, but if we even marginally violate something, they use it to ask for money,” he added.A school headmaster from Gingee, who didn’t want to be named, said that government schools were allowed to go scot-free despite violating norms. “Government schools have mid-day meals scheme. There’s a gas cylinder on campus all the time. Do they have the necessary fire extinguishers on all campuses?” he asked.
A senior official from the School Education department, however, denied that schools were being harassed. “We are merely doing our job and following the High Court order, to which we should respond shortly. We instructed all District Collectors to form a committee and many of these committees have even finished inspection of schools designated to them,” he said.
He added that the committees have been given an exhaustive questionnaire, and members can use a mobile app to keep track of violations by each school. Apart from infrastructure, the committees will also examine the implementation of the RTE Act, the Fee Regulation Act and the health status of the students in the schools.
In Chennai only five CBSE Schools have been inspected so far. A district-level education officer, on condition of anonymity, said that the department is way behind schedule as inspections should be over by now. “There’s no way that matriculation or private school has been intimidated for money in Chennai, because we have inspected only five schools so far,” he said.
The High Court order came after a PIL petition was filed by Change India, an NGO, which had sought a direction to the government to ensure that school buildings complied with norms set under the National Buildings Code. A Narayanan, founder of Change India, said that children are forced to go to school in hostile conditions. The private schools will have to endure inspections irrespective of government schools meeting norms, he said. “Private schools have been enjoying a free ride so far. Nobody’s asked them to comply with regulations strictly so far. They are feeling the heat for the first time,” said Narayanan.
Along with the District Chief Education Officer, the committee will have representatives from the PWD, the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority, the Fire and Safety Department, TNEB and the Health Department.