HYDERABAD: Nearly a month after a class 9 student fell to her death from her school building in LB Nagar, which was later seized by the Education Department for safety lapses, two more schools in the city have been asked to shut shop for the lack of no-objection certificates (NOCs).
Jaya School in LB Nagar and Glory’s Galaxy School in Borabanda were not officially recognised, but continued to run Classes 1-10; they were seized on Saturday and Monday respectively. Interestingly, and alarmingly, management of both schools joined hands with nearby schools and enrolled their class 10 students into their own. This allowed the students to appear for SSC examinations. The building from which Jaya School operated had housed two more schools at different points in time.
They were shut down by the Education Department.
“A school named St Alphonse was initially running in the building. A few years later it was seized for the lack of requisite NOCs. After lying vacant for a few years, another school, Gayathri School, started operating from the same building. The management then sold it off and another school (Jaya School) started functioning there,” explained Sheik Shabbir Ali, president of Telangana Private Teachers Forum, on whose complaint the schools were seized.
Ali added that no changes were made to the building structure, neither were clearances procured from authorities such as Fire, GHMC and Traffic. “When Gayathri School sold the property to Jaya School, the transaction was not just for the property but included children also. Overnight the children became the reporters of another school,” he said. In the case of Glory Galaxy School, which claims to be “Recognised by Government of TS”, has been “undertaken by Sri Sai Chaitanya High School and Sri Sai Kids International School”. However, the MEO found that only one school of Sri Sai Chaitanya High School had any recognition.
Parents unaware, officials apathetic
Private school teachers have for long alleged that schools get affiliation for one school and then open new branches, claiming they have an affiliation for the new school too. “The facilities in these school are bad, teachers are paid poorly but there is no compromise on the fees. Parents are not aware of these things. They only care for how close to their home is to the school and admit their children into it,” said Sai Janaki, a private school teacher.
In addition to lack of awareness, the apathy of government officials also adds to the problem. Shabbir said that unless someone complains, there is seldom any inspection. Even after an inspection, there is no guarantee that the school will be investigated, he added.
S Srinivas Reddy, president, Telangana Recognised Schools management Association (TRSMA), blames corporate institutions for setting this trend of getting affiliation for one school and operating a chain.
“They take affiliation for one school in an area and run ten. The education department, with its corruption and red-tapism, never takes action against these schools and this encourages other private school managements to follow suit,” he said.