Page 20 - EW-June-2025

Education News

number of preschools in the state”. of being the country’s most corrupt of Rs.2,150 crore which Tamil Nadu
Given the history of successive state, is not good. There is every claims is due to it under SSS.
state governments to over-regulate possibility that for registration and Launched in 2018, SSS incorpo-
K-12 and higher education insti- thereafter, we will be obliged to fulfill rates the previously launched Sarva
tutions and prescribe highly dis- numerous conditions and obtain a Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA, primary edu-
cretionary rules which facilitate plethora of permissions for which cation development) and the Rash-
shakedowns, extortion and retail cor- we will have to pay bribes. The best triya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan
ruption, private preschool promoters option is to establish an independent (RMSA, secondary education devel-
are wary about the DSEL’s registra- ECCE Regulatory Authority on the opment) programmes and teacher
tion order. line of TRAI and IRA to supervise education initiatives to upgrade pre-
We welcome the government’s and regulate private pre-primaries. primary to higher secondary school-
“decision to initiate registration of Moreover instead of focusing its ing countrywide. The Union Budget
all new preschools. It will help gather attention on private preschools, the 2025-26 provided Rs.41,250 crore for
data about the number of preschools government should upgrade and SSS. This amount is to be distributed
in the state and ensure adherence contemporise the state’s 69,919 among general category states (in-
to minimum standards of teaching- AWCs which are in pitiful condition,” cluding Tamil Nadu) on a 60:40 ratio
learning, infrastructure and safety. says a private preschool promoter basis, i.e, the states have to provide 40
However, the circular is vague and who preferred to remain anonymous. percent of the amount allocated by the
confusing about registration eligibil- However it’s doubtful if this Centre. Even the 60 percent provided
ity criteria. While it mandates one sq. well-considered, sage advice will be by the Centre is distributed based
m area per child, which is practical, heeded by the state’s control-and- on several parameters including the
it also mandates 18x20 ft classrooms command neta-babu brotherhood. state’s population of children, out-of-
which is not. A large number of DSEL’s registration mandate is likely school children, school infrastructure
preschools operate out of residential to be the first step towards levelling and learning outcomes.
homes and the requirement of 18x20 down the state’s best private pre- Under the weighted formula, Hindi
ft classrooms is unrealistic, espe- schools to the level of AWCs. belt states (UP, Rajasthan, Bihar) get
cially in metropolitan Bengaluru. Reshma Ravishanker (Bengaluru) a greater share of the Central alloca-
It’s also unclear whether registered tion than Tamil Nadu and southern
preschools need to pay electricity TAMIL NADU states which are socio-economically
and water charges according to com- more advanced. In the circumstances,
mercial or residential rates. More- Stalin’s NEP war successive governments in TN have
over, we hope that the registration maintained that the state has suffered
of new preschools is not the begin- he stand-off between tamil because of better family planning, bet-
ning of incremental government Nadu chief minister M.K. Sta- ter schools and learning outcomes.
interference in the management of Tlin and the BJP government at Therefore the Centre withholding
private preschools,” says Pritam the Centre on the issue of the latter Rs.2,150 crore is being interpreted by
Agarwal, Vice President of the Early withholding a sum of Rs.2,150 crore the DMK government in Chennai as
Childhood Association of India and due to the state under the Samagra salt rubbed in a pre-existing wound.
Bengaluru-based founder of Hello Shiksha Scheme (SSS) will have to be The state government alleges that
Kids, which has 1,030 franchised resolved by the Supreme Court. the Centre is deliberately holding
preschools countrywide. On May 21, TN’s DMK government back funds to pressure Tamil Nadu
DSEL’s May 27 circular has filed a writ petition under Article 131 into adopting the National Educa-
generated anxiety within preschool of the Constitution invoking the apex tion Policy (NEP) 2020, and signing
managements in the state who fear court’s original jurisdiction under up for the PM SHRI Schools scheme
“harassment” after registration. “The which the court is empowered to ad- under which 14,500 existing schools
track record of the Karnataka gov- judicate disputes between the Centre — a handful in every state — are trans-
ernment which has the reputation and states. At issue is the said sum formed into model NEP 2020 compli-

20 EDUCATIONWORLD JUNE 2025