Page 36 - Education World July 2020

Cover Story

interference prompted a coalition of The deep animosity that the neta-
private preschools and schools to file babu brotherhood in the Delhi impe-
a writ petition in the high court which rium and state capitals has towards
passed strictures against the govern- private schools which provide infi-
ment and stayed the circular (see nitely superior preschool to class XII
p.16). education to the public at all price
T HE RECKLESS KNEE JERK India is cheaper than in any other
points — private school education in
country worldwide — is plainly mani-
reaction of the education
bureaucracy to the pan-
demic and its seizure of the fest in the historic Right of Children to
Free & Compulsory Education (RTE)
crisis to target private schools by pro- Act, 2009.
hibiting fees collection, discouraging Engineered by top limousine lib-
online learning while simultaneously eral Supreme Court counsel Kapil
threatening dire consequences for fail- Sibal who was Union HRD minister
ure to pay teacher and staff salaries, in the Congress-led UPA-II govern-
has outraged and demoralised private Kedia: apex court contempt ment, the Act (which required two
school managements confronted with constitutional amendments) repudi-
the grim prospect of mass lay-offs and islation to regulate the fees of private ates the State’s obligation to provide
financial ruin. schools. All this is in blatant disregard early childhood education to children
In Maharashtra — even as the of the Supreme Court’s judgement in in the 0-6 age group, and passes on
Bombay high court stayed (June 26) the A ndheri E duc ati on S oc i ety Case part of government obligation to pro-
a blanket notification prohibiting (2003) which directed all states to en- vide primary education (age 6-14) to
all private schools in the state from sure that their rules, regulations, no- private schools. Under s. 12 (1) (c) pri-
increasing tuition fees in the forth- tifications and GRs are in consonance vate schools are obliged to reserve 25
coming academic year 2020-21 — with the court’s T. M . A . P ai judgement. percent capacity in elementary school
the Mumbai-based Unaided Schools However, successive governments of (classes I-VIII) for poor household
Forum and two other private school the state have totally ignored this di- children in their neighbourhood and
associations have briefed renowned rective of the Supreme Court and have retain them free-of-charge until com-
counsel Harish Salve to file a writ peti- destroyed the autonomy of private pletion of class VIII. The cost of their
tion in the Bombay high court against education institutions. Moreover, dur- education is to be reimbursed by state
the state government for abridging the ing the national Covid-19 lockdown governments to the extent of the per-
fundamental rights of private school era, they have issued several GRs child expenditure incurred in govern-
managements. In particular for disre- without consulting any stakeholders ment schools.
garding the judgement of the Supreme in private schools which has created Surprisingly, the constitutional
Court in the landmark T. M . A . P ai disharmony and prompted litigation validity of s.12 (1) (c) which in effect
F oundati on Case (2002) in which a which is draining school resources. In mandates “backdoor partial nationali-
full-bench of the apex court ruled that our writ petition due to be heard by sation” of private schools and patently
private education institutions have full the Bombay high court soon, we have flies in the face of the apex court’s full-
autonomy to administer themselves i nter ali a alleged contempt of the Su- judge bench in the T. M . A . P ai Case,
and levy reasonable fees commensu- preme Court’s judgement in the A nd- was upheld by a convoluted 2-1 major-
rate with investment in infrastructure heri E duc ati on S oc i ety Case,” says ity judgement of the Supreme Court in
and co-curricular and extra-curricular S. C . Kedia, former in-house counsel S oc i ety f or U nai ded P ri v ate S c hools of
education provided by them. to several major business houses for R aj asthan v s. U ni on of I ndi a (2012).
“Following the outbreak of the Co- 40 years and currently honorary sec- However, the court excluded boarding
vid-19 pandemic and shutdown of all retary of the Unaided Schools Forum. and minority schools from the ambit
education institutions in mid-March, of s.12 (1) (c). But, exemption of mi-
the Maharashtra government has nority schools from the purview of this
been issuing a spate of GRs (govern- e education bureaucracy section has been cleverly interpreted
ment resolutions) directing private has widely disregarded the by skilled lawyers to enable the great
school managements to cease and de- majority of schools whose promoters
sist from collecting or raising tuition judgement of the Supreme and/or trustees are from myriad reli-
fees, while exhorting them to con- Court in the landmark TMA gious or linguistic minorities (a Hindu
tinue to pay teacher and staff salaries. Pai Case (2002) from Uttar Pradesh is a linguistic mi-
Moreover in May, it had passed leg- nority in Tamil Nadu) to claim exemp-

36 EDUCATIONWORLD JULY 2020