Page 8 - EducationWorld Oct 2021

Editorial

STOP PRIVATE SCHOOLS HARASSMENT school managements to collect 85
percent of total fees payable in the
pre-pandemic year 2019-20. This
n a landmark verdict passed on fundamental right to carry on a le- ratio decidendi has been followed by
September 16, the Karnataka high gitimate business, trade or profession the Karnataka high court in its Sep-
Icourt reaffirmed an earlier judge- under Article 19 (1) (g) of the Constitu- tember 16 judgement and welcomed
ment of the Supreme Court in Indian tion and to derive a reasonable profit by private school managements.
School, Jodhpur vs. State of Rajast- therefrom as affirmed by a full bench In the circumstances, it would be in
han (Civil Appeal 1724 of 2021) up- of the apex court in T.M.A. Pai Foun- the larger public interest for govern-
holding the right of private school dation vs. Union of India (2002). ments at the Centre and especially in
managements to determine the tu- In its latest landmark judge- the states, to accept these verdicts as
ition fees chargeable by them. A writ ment, the Supreme Court held that the final word on the issue of regulat-
petition was filed by several appel- the right to determine fees payable ing fees of private schools. Obviously,
lants against a Rajasthan state gov- by parents/students is vested in the fees determined by private school
ernment order directing all private “management alone,” and upheld managements are dependent upon
schools statewide to restrict them- the sanctity of the contracts between capital invested and range of academ-
selves to levying 70 percent of their parents and school managements ic, co-curricular and sports education
tuition (fees) for the academic year for admission of their children. The facilities provided to students.
2020-21 when all schools country- apex court ruled that government Therefore, governments should
wide were ordered to lock down their is permitted to moderate or reduce refrain from pandering to the middle
campuses for fear of the Coronavirus contracted fees payable only in in- class and respect the sanctity of con-
infecting children, and switch to on- stances of profiteering and levy of tracts in private education. India’s
line learning to the extent possible. capitation fees, expressly prohibited 450,000 private schools educate and
Responding to appeals of parents by the court in its T.M.A. Pai Case. mentor 48 percent of the country’s
to direct private school managements In the Indian School, Jodhpur Case, 260 million school-going children
to reduce their fees, the state gov- the apex court struck down the direc- and have educated almost the entire
ernment issued orders under several tive of the Rajasthan government re- middle class. The proper role of gov-
provisions of the Rajasthan School stricting private schools to collecting ernment is to raise teaching-learning
Fees Regulation Act, 2016 to issue the 70 percent of tuition fee, but bearing standards in the country’s 1.20 million
impugned directive. It was challenged in mind special circumstances of the government schools, not badger and
by the petitioners as violative of their pandemic year 2020-21, it directed harass private schools.

TRUST DEFICIT WILL KILL NMP PROGRAMME of trust in government was recently
manifested in the abject failure of an
Indian Railways proposal to lease rail-
he national asset monetisation ever, the proposed auctions of govern- way tracks to private enterprises for
Pipeline (NMP) programme ment managed infrastructure projects running private trains.
Tannounced in the Union Bud- are unlikely to arouse much interest. This initiative was widely wel-
get 2021-22 is detailed in a document That’s because public-private partner- comed by industry (and Education-
released to the public on August 23 by ships have a bad history of govern- World) because it offered the prospect
NITI Aayog, the Union government’s ment bullying, variation of contractual of superior, globally benchmarked
think tank (established in 2014 by the terms and lack of respect for sanctity passenger and goods rail services to
BJP/NDA government to replace the of contract. the citizenry, and competition to the
Soviet-style Planning Commission). Indeed there’s no shortage of case antiquated public sector Indian Rail-
Under this initiative, leases of several histories demonstrating that govern- ways. However, the terms of the track
public sector ‘brownfield’, i.e, func- ments at the Centre and in the states leasing agreement which IR proposed
tional, infrastructure assets including have ill-concealed contempt for citi- were one-sided and discretionary
public highways, railways, shipping, zens and corporations, and take full power of railway officials to vary the
aviation, power, telecom, oil and gas advantage of the dysfunctional and terms of contracts “in the public inter-
industries and warehousing units, will time-agnostic judicial system to rou- est” was unacceptably wide.
be auctioned to private sector compa- tinely renege on their contractual ob- For similar reasons, the NMP pro-
nies. In turn, the lessees will manage ligations. gramme is likely to prove a damp
them for the contracted period of Private individuals, corporates and squib. Since 1991, successive govern-
time retaining profits earned during NGOs are often seduced by tall prom- ments elected to office at the Centre
the lease period. Over the next four ises and honeyed words to sign PPPs and in the states have promised full
years, the Union government expects (public-private partnerships). But in privatisation of bleeding public sec-
to raise Rs.6 lakh crore from private most PPPs, the role of private partners tor enterprises which are a major drag
corporations and companies by leas- is expeditiously reduced to providing on the economy. The half-way house
ing brownfield assets to fund green- funding while management of joint NMP programme under which gov-
field infrastructure projects. ventures is usurped by overweening ernment wants to continue to “pre-
On paper, the NMP programme is and usually under-qualified bureau- serve national assets” is likely to prove
a promising win-win initiative. How- crats and/or their nominees. This lack another red herring.

8 EDUCATIONWORLD OCTOBER 2021