Civic body promises concrete action against errant schools in 48 hrs

For 10 days, MiD DAY has run a campaign against irregularities in private schools based on stories, evidence and complaints filed with us by parents of schoolchildren. Over the past few days, we received complaints from more than 50 parents and we reported complaints against over 16 schools in the city and its vicinity.


Not enthused: Parents complained that though PMC had promised
action before not a single management has been fined to date. file pic

From Pimpri-Chinchwad to Sinhagad and Baner to Kondhwa, the complaints kept pouring in. MiD DAY had tied up with parents' organisations as well as the education authorities at the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for this initiative.

While the former stuck to their promise and brought to us genuine stories which we cross-checked and verified with schools before publishing, the PMC authorities, who were supposed to act on the complaints once these were reported, failed to stick to their end of the bargain. They simply ignored the complaints by parents.
Finally, after persistent follow-ups by MiD DAY, Ramchandra Jadhav, PMC's education officer, finally promised action.

"In two days' time we will take some concrete and visible action based on parents' complaints, after these are verified," he said. Parent organidations, however, are not too hopeful. Mateen Mujawar, founder of Shikshan Hakk Manch, said that PMC officials often give false promises. "We have tried our best to get action, but after a year-and-half of struggle, not a single school management has been even fined. I don't have much hope," he said. Sayyed Shaherali, a member of the Rosary Parents Organisation and the recently launched statewide organisation MahaParents, said that officials issued notices for the sake of appeasing parents.
"They issue notices to school and think their job is over. What we want is action," he said. Though MiD DAY's campaign based on parents' complaints against irregularities in private schools ends today, we shall keep following up with the PMC authorities until we see real action take place.

MiD DAY symposium for parents, schools
ON Sunday, MiD DAY has organised a symposium at Sun n Sand Hotel at Bund Garden Road. The event, which will begin at 3 pm, will see a healthy debate between parents and school management representatives and principals on various issues that are of concern to parents. From fee hikes to admissions and donations to forcible sale of study material in schools, parents are being invited to discuss all issues that plague them. In turn, school principals will be given a platform to put forth their point of view and their problems ufffd from paying revised salaries of teachers to upgrading school infrastructure as well as vandalism from political outfits in the name of fighting for parents' rights. Officials from the Pune Municipal Corporation and the Zilla Parishad will also be present at the event, which will enable some concrete decisions to come out of the debate.