Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The management of a large number of private schools, including higher secondary or senior secondary schools, in Assam, have been running their institutions by violating rules and guidelines that they are meant to adhere to. And this is happening right under the very nose of the Education Department, Assam.
To regulate the private educational institutions in the state, the government enacted the Assam Non-Government Educational Institutions (Regulations and Management) Act, 2006. The state government brought some amendments to this Act in 2018.
This Act has specifically mentioned the required landed areas for private schools in rural and urban areas, the required number of classrooms, toilet facilities, libraries, reading rooms, laboratories, etc. The campuses of such institutions should be located in healthy and hygienic areas. The buildings or the structures in which such institutions carry on their educational activities, the surroundings, furniture, and equipment shall be adequate and suitable for educational institutions.
According to sources, there has been a mushroom growth of private schools in district headquarters without following the guidelines. This is because such ventures have become more of a business than of education. Most of such schools run on congested buildings without the required facilities, besides being overcrowded.
The lack of an adequate number of higher secondary schools in the state has led to the mushroom growth of private higher secondary schools in the state. Since the management of such schools employs low-paid teachers, the quality of education they impart is also not up to the mark.
The lack of regular monitoring of the adherence to the standing Act by authorities concerned has led to such a plight for private schools in the state.
As often as not, a section of parents has to admit their wards into such private institutions after the HSLC (High School Leaving Certificate) examinations as they have no way out. Despite paying fees to the schools through their noses, such parents feel that their wards are not getting quality education. The surroundings of some schools in rented accommodation are not at all conducive for academic activities. Some of the parents say that they failed to get anything positive from the school authorities even after raising their concerns. Such guardians feel that the government needs to keep an eye on the running of private schools in the state.
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