says, The Hindu.
A committee, headed by M.P. Vijayakumar, former State Project Director of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), is now holding public hearings and it will submit its report to the Government/Department of School Education shortly. While the committee had its sittings in Chennai and Coimbatore, it will hold its hearing in Madurai on July 4 to receive suggestions from schools in southern districts.
When someone wants to start a school or get the mandatory renewal for a school, he/she has to go through many procedures. So, the State government has constituted a committee to address the issue," Mr. Vijayakumar, committee chairperson, told The Hindu here on Sunday. The government was "seriously concerned" over the difficulties faced by school managements in getting the necessary clearance and certificates. "For instance, every school applies for renewal once in three years and there are cases where it takes two years to get the clearance. By the time, the next renewal becomes due. This was brought to our attention at the two hearings held so far," Mr. Vijayakumar, who is also an honorary advisor to SSA, said.
According to him, the committee would hear directly from all stakeholders - State Board/Matriculation Board and nursery schools - about difficulties they encounter. Mr. Vijayakumar said the final report would be submitted in about a month.
It would be interesting to see what the report has to say. In an earlier post, I had looked at Mayank Wadhwa's note on the licenses required to start a school in Delhi.
Update: The Hindu carried a report on the public hearing at Madurai on July 4th.
“The State government is seriously concerned over the delays in obtaining recognition certificate for starting a school and also at the time of renewal. So, this committee was formed to look into the means for simplified and streamlined procedures,” Mr. Vijayakumar said in his opening remarks.
He said that the objective of forming the committee was to examine how to reduce the time taken by various departments for issuing the mandatory certificates to schools in both urban and rural areas.
The common suggestion that came from the school correspondents and principals was that the officials of School Education Department in all districts must have powers to deal with issuing of certificates if all parameters were satisfied as per the Government norms.
Town planning approval, Fire Department certificate, building stability certificate, local body approvals and license from the tahsildhar were among the topics discussed. Some participants suggested that the norm of obtaining renewal certificate by private schools once in three years can be revised to at least five years.
“Every time we go for renewal, documents and photographs of buildings have to be submitted. That practice may be done with to simplify the job for both the schools and department officials,” a school Principal said.
Comments