Page 16 - EducationWorld March 2022

Education News

Education didn’t issue the annual tition, a government affidavit cit-
nursery admissions notification in ed a decision taken by the state’s
2021, the backlog of admissions has finance minister Ajit Pawar to
doubled. As per the 2022-23 notifi- end all non-salary grants from
cation issued on December 14, 2021, the year 2020. It further stated
the admission schedule is expected that aided vernacular schools
to conclude by March 31. However, incurred no expenses during
the government has allowed a second the shutdown of schools for two
round of applications under the years because of the Covid-19
EWS (economically weaker sections) pandemic. In court, government
category against vacancies based on counsel suggested these schools
pleas of activists. should charge students Rs.1,000
Though it is hoped that schools in per year as fees to cover non-
the national capital will finally return salary expenses. With the court
to pre-Covid normalcy, manage- Fadnavis: no option again ruling in favour of school
ments, students, parents and teach- managements, the government
ers need to focus on ways and means penses they incur towards infrastruc- disbursed the first instalment of Rs.90
to bridge the massive learning gap ture development and maintenance. crore in January this year, promising
children have suffered during the Under the Maharashtra Employees to disburse another Rs.100 crore by
unprecedented pandemic which is Private Schools Act (MEPS, 1977 & March.
hopefully, finally behind them. 1981)), all vernacular schools in the Our students come from very poor
Autar Nehru (Delhi) state are obliged to dispense free-of- “homes and cannot pay any fees.
charge education and are barred from On one hand, the state government
MAHARASHTRA taking any form of capitation fees or has been proclaiming that schools
Poor payment record donations from their pupils. have quickly shifted to online educa-
tion across Maharashtra. But on the
Although the tradition of the state
government paying teachers’ sala- other hand, it says our schools have
n february 27, as maharashtra ries of private aided schools (which not incurred any expenses during the
celebrated Marathi Language enables the government to regulate pandemic. Schools like us dispense 90
ODay on the birth anniversary their tuition fees) is well-entrenched, percent of education within the state
of popular poet, Kusumagraj, 64,000 time and again the Maharashtra gov- even as government and municipal
mostly Marathi medium private aided ernment has attempted to end non- schools lag behind despite having ac-
schools announced they would abstain salary grants. After two unsuccessful cess to larger government grants. We
from conducting the state govern- attempts in 1997 and 2003, in January have used up our funds and public
ment’s forthcoming class X and class 2013, the state passed a government donations to provide online educa-
XII board exams on their premises. resolution (GR) reducing the non- tion, and if our non-salary grants are
The managements of these schools salary grant component to 5 percent discontinued, we will have to shut
are on the warpath against the state of the salary grant of aided schools. down. We are left with no option but
government’s failure to reimburse The constitutional validity of this to excuse ourselves from allowing the
Rs.520 crore of ‘non-salary grants’ for GR was challenged by the Maharash- use of our infrastructure to conduct
the academic years 2018-19 and 2019- tra Rajya Shikshan Santhan Maha- board exams,” says Ravindra Fad-
20. The class X exams (March 15-April mandal, an association comprising navis, secretary, Maharashtra Rajya
4) and class XII exams (scheduled for 30,000 private school trustees state- Shikshan Santhan Mahamandal.
March 4-April 30), conducted by the wide. In 2017, after the Nagpur bench In this connection, it’s noteworthy
Maharashtra State Board of Second- of the Bombay high court ruled in fa- that the state government’s record of
ary and Higher Secondary Education vour of the trustees, the government reimbursing private unaided schools
(MSBSHSE), are the state’s largest as- continued paying Rs.260 crore per which have admitted poor neighbour-
sessment exercise involving 3.4 mil- year as non-salary grants to Marathi hood children under s.12 (1) (c) of the
lion children. and other vernacular medium aided RTE Act is also dismal. Under s.12 (2),
Aided schools across the country — schools. In December 2020 however, the state government is obliged to re-
Maharashtra included — receive state the Mahamandal filed a contempt pe- imburse private school fees according
government grants to cover teachers’ tition when non-salary grants for the to a prescribed formula. But accord-
salaries. An additional non-salary or academic years 2018-19 and 2019-20 ing to private school sources, a sum
post-paid grant is paid to vernacular remained unpaid. of Rs.1,600 crore is in arrears for four
medium schools to make up for ex- In its response to the contempt pe- years (2018-19, 2019-20, 2020-21 and

16 EDUCATIONWORLD MARCH 2022