Page 42 - EW JULY PDF

Cover Story

Obstacles race
usually required by state governments:
he vice-like — and tightening — chokehold of the 1. Registration certificate of society/trust
Central and state education bureaucracy over 2. Essentiality certificate
Tprimary and secondary education has made promo- 3. Certificate of recognition
tion of private greenfield schools a formidable challenge 4. Certificate of upgradation
which can only be met by very determined and persistent 5. Certificate of affiliation (CBSE, CISCE or state board)
edupreneurs. 6. Affidavit swearing legal purchase of land and adherence
From the stage of land acquisition, obtaining permis- to civic Master plan
sions from civic planners, securing electricity and water 7. Site and building plans
supply connections, to obtaining the all-important NOC (no 8. Building fitness certificate
objection certificate), school promoters have to obtain 14- 9. Health certificate
32 clearances and permissions from government officials/ 10. Water testing report
departments (without time limit). Among them: 11. List of first batch students
Registration as a society/trust. Commercialisation of educa- 12. Construction completion certificate
tion is prohibited by several Supreme Court judgements 13. Details of duly constituted boards of trustees and man-
stretching back many decades. Therefore private groups, agement
whether a collection of like-minded people or a corporate 14. Land use permission certificate (for rented land/build-
entity promoting a school must first be registered under the ings)
Societies Act, 1860 or Public Trust Acts of the states, or set 15. Fire compliance certificate
up as a not-for-profit company as prescribed by s. 8 of the 16. RTE Act compliance affidavit
Companies Act, 2013. Local authority sanctions. Moreover, clearance certificates
Land acquisition. If the society/trust wishes to buy land from have to be obtained from municipal/fire/transport authorities
government, it will be required to obtain an Essentiality regarding sanitary conditions, water/fire/transport safety.
Certificate (EC) from the state’s ministry of education to These certificates need to be renewed every five years.
ascertain whether a private school is required by the public CBSE/CISCE schools. All proposed CBSE/CISCE-affiliated
in the proposed area of location. schools must obtain an NOC/Recognition letter from
Subsequently to establish a legally permissible private the state government in addition to the above listed
primary/secondary school, the following documents are permissions.

of Indian Chamber of Commerce and painstakingly slow speed. It’s time for country’s under-performing 1.2 mil-
Industry, believes that the Central the Centre and states to extend liber- lion government schools. Our first-
and state governments should exhibit alisation to the education sector and of-its-type study quantifies the shock-
urgency in dismantling the licence- liberate the country’s 450,000 private ing number of precious hours being
permit-quota raj which is “holding schools to provide high-quality educa- wasted by school leaders, principals
back Indian education from realising tion to the world’s largest population and teachers on complying with gov-
its true potential”. of children and youth,” says Raju, also ernment orders, whereas their ener-
“India’s private schools educate founder of the CBSE-affiliated Suchi- gies should be invested in equipping
half of the country’s school-going tra Academy, Hyderabad. all children with contemporary educa-
children. Yet despite their huge con- Although the country’s influen- tion and skillsets needed for success in
tribution to developing human capi- tial middle class, reluctant to pay the the 21st century.
tal which is driving the growth of the actual cost of private education, and Thirty-two years ago, liberalisation
Indian economy, they are subject to the judiciary slow to recover from its of the economy unleashed the entre-
over-regulation and micro-manage- socialist hangover, are yet to be con- preneurial spirit of Indian industry
ment by government. This is harming vinced, green shoots of a national con- and business, which has since doubled
the country and holding it back from sensus that the education sector needs annual GDP growth and propelled the
emerging as a knowledge superpower. to be unshackled from the chokehold country to the status of the world’s
It’s also a deterrent for attracting pri- of the licence-permit-quota regimen fifth largest economy. Now it’s time to
vate investment in education. Though are sprouting. With foreign universi- extend liberalisation to the education
some green shoots of change are vis- ties and schools being permitted to sector and unleash the edupreneurial
ible in terms of government permit- establish campuses in India, there’s a spirit to reap the nation’s demograph-
ting foreign universities and schools new awareness that role of the State ic dividend.
to set up campuses in India, the lib- is not to police private education but
eralisation process is happening at to improve learning outcomes in the With inputs from Summiya Yasmeen

42 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2023