AAP seeks regulatory body for private schools

CHANDIGARH: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP)

Jagraon

MLA and Deputy Leader of Opposition (Dy LoP) in Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Sarvjit Kaur Manuke on Friday demanded that the state should set up a regulatory body to check ‘fleecing’ of parents by private schools in the state.


In a statement, she expressed concern over the mushrooming of private schools in various parts of the city. She alleged that it was a thought out design of the government to ensure increased number of private schools. She further said that the state had failed to provide better facilities and infrastructure in government-run schools, which, she said had led to the sorry state of affairs. The non-serious stance of the government had not only contributed to the steady fall in the student enrolment in government-run schools in the state but had brought down the standard of education brink, Manuke said. She alleged that since there was no government regulatory body , they were charging exorbitant fees and hiking them every year, she said. She added that the books prescribed by the CBSE and even copies and other stationery items left a big hole in their parents’ pockets, she said. Through a written communication to the chief minister Captain Amarinder Singh and state education minister OP Soni, Manuke pointed out how private school managements were indulging in open ‘loot’. She said certain privat-run schools in the state had made it obligatory for the parents to send their wards in school van only instead of by other modes of transport citing safety and security reason of their wards under the Safe School Vahan scheme.