COIMBATORE: As many as 390 playschools in the State are functioning without obtaining licence from the school education department, data from Education Management Information System (EMIS) portal show. Chengalpattu district tops the list with 35 unapproved schools. Karur and Tiruchy have no unapproved schools. (See map)
According to sources, the school education department recently directed Chief Educational Officers (CEO) to submit list of playschools which are functioning without licence. "After getting details, the list of unapproved schools was hosted in the EMIS portal district-wise. The final tally showed there are 390 unapproved schools across the State."
An educational officer in Coimbatore said, "Playschools must obtain licence from CEOs by providing certificates of building stability, fire safety, sanitation, etc. Only after that can students be admitted. Not many parents are aware of such things and some schools exploit the situation. Students are at risk in unapproved schools."
The official said 10 unapproved schools were detected in Coimbatore by block education officers through inspections. "Top officials from the school education department will be conducting a meeting with CEOs in Chennai on Tuesday. We hope they would give us instructions on taking action against unapproved schools," she added.
Mayadevi Shankar, president of All Private School Welfare association, said, "For years we have been demanding that unapproved schools be closed. But officials refused to make public the names of unapproved schools."
She alleged that despite CEOs having the power to close schools after getting district collector permission, they do not take action.
A senior official in the directorate of elementary education, told TNIE, "We cannot close these schools immediately as students would be affected. The academic year is coming to an end in a month. We are taking steps to close such schools with the district collector support."
