HOW CAN WE EDUCATE OUR NEXT GENERATION ..... IF THESE ARE THE FACTS --- Lets focus on the plight of a typical school in Delhi, "ABC School." The study tells us how the Delhi School Education Act is detrimental to the quality of education and more so to the poor. As a result, the school still fails to obtain recognition from the state. The story dates back to 1984, when ABC Society decided to establish a formal school through a purely legitimate route. Such a school would be established primarily to impart education to the poor, mainly, slum children. After filing their application for an EC, it took them 6 months to obtain it. This was because of the DoE’s policy of issuing EC’s once every 6 months, the argument being that this checks the proliferation of schools in an area. The Society then applied to the DoE for sponsorship in order to purchase land. The DoE took another year to forward the "letter of sponsorship" to the DDA. Political instability forced them to obtain the same letter thrice, as newer governments wanted to re-review the allotment of land to the general public. But the buck did not stop here; even after the DoE’s approval, ABC Society was denied land by the DDA. They were informed that there was no land available, but finally after 3 years they were allotted an underdeveloped piece of land. This was purchased at a rate of Rs. 82.5 lakhs per acre, which was initially rejected by a private businessman, in turn helping their cause. In all, it took them 6 years to acquire land, because of which they had to obtain renewal for the EC thrice. The DDA took another 6-8 months to approve their building plan. Fighting their way through government regulations, they finally succeeded in opening the School. But at this stage, they were denied recognition from the DoE, on account of non-compliance with Provision 10–Salaries of Employees of Delhi School Education Act. This act, with regard to salaries of employees, states, "The scale of pay and allowances, medical facilities, pension, gratuity, provident fund and other prescribed benefits of the employees of a recognized private school shall not be less than those of the employees of the corresponding status in school run by the appropriate authority." The minimum salary paid to the teaching staff of a government school falls between Rs. 9,000 to Rs.13,000. In comparison to this, ABC School manages to pay a minimum Rs. 3,500. At least the teachers are paid what they sign for, unlike the situation prevalent in a vast majority of schools, where the management manipulates records so as to comply with the rules and regulations. The School fails to pay high salaries because the poor communities cannot afford to pay sufficient fees to mop-up the funds needed to pay staff as per government scales. At the same time Grant-in-Aid status has not been easy to obtain to compensate for the low fee collections, under which the government provides for 95% of expenses and the remaining 5% are borne by the management of the school. In such a case, no admission fee can be charged or collected by the school for admission to any class up to VIII standard. Currently, the poor parents are paying Rs.100 per month as fees and other charges. In order to act in accordance with the Act, fees would need to be hiked perceptibly--a move not favored by the poor. Thus the requirement of paying government stipulated scales should be overlooked, if the government does not provide grant-in-aid. It should not be made a prerequisite for recognition, as it is an added financial burden on the management of the school. Hitherto, the School has not been able to obtain recognition and it has been 17 years since they started. To legally attain all the 14 licenses, it takes a typical school 10 years on an average, which would reduce to 3–4 years if bribes are paid. Adding the opportunity cost to those 17 years, one wonders "why not pay bribes." The School was asked to pay bribes at several stages, but they declined to do so. For an EC, they were asked to pay Rs. 5,000, to forward the letter of sponsorship, the amount set was Rs. 30,000–40,000 and to grant recognition, they were asked Rs. 1 lakh. Even for a Grant-in-Aid status, one has to please the government officials. Adding it up, one has to set aside 15–20% of their investments in schools as offerings to the babus, without which everything stands on hope. Epilogue: Let sanity prevail We believe that in Delhi where 14 lakh children are out of school, a certificate proving the need of a school is foolishness. A private businessman is better equipped to assess the demand for education. Thus the Delhi School Education Act is anti-poor and discriminatory when put in action. In practice it is also a bureaucratic act and the norms promote corruption. It is essential to liberate education from governing acts and regulating authorities. Let the people of our country think for themselves.
Posted on: Wed, 04 Sep 2013 09:33:06 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015