The Delhi authorities has determined to take over the administration of a government-aided faculty in Punjabi Bagh for “arbitrary and violating norms”, it introduced on Saturday. The faculty, on its half, stated that this had not been communicated to them, and that the federal government had thought of voluntary donations by some mother and father as charges.
The authorities stated it has determined to provoke the method of taking on the administration of Swami Sivanand Memorial Secondary School beneath the provisions of the Delhi School Education Act. According to a authorities assertion, “the decision was taken after receiving several complaints from parents that the school authorities were arbitrarily charging additional fees…”.
“Also, the school is failing its students and asking them to take the same grades again deliberately. Keeping in mind the complaints of the parents, the Delhi government had constituted an inquiry committee into the matter. The committee found inadequacies in the functioning of the school and found that the issues raised by the parents regarding the school were true. After submitting the report, the school management was given an opportunity to defend itself but they were unable to give any proper reply regarding the discrepancies in its functioning,” learn the assertion.
The faculty is authorities aided, which suggests it’s a privately managed faculty that receives a upkeep grant of 95% of the recurring expenditure from the Delhi authorities with provision for non-recurring grant for contingencies.
The institute’s normal secretary Ashok Rao stated the varsity doesn’t cost charges from the scholars, and the matter seems to be a ‘voluntary cost’ from the mother and father.
“The main thing they are taking on us is something that the parents were voluntarily doing after a resolution passed by the parents’ union. The parents had decided to make a small monthly contribution of around Rs 300 as a donation, through which we were setting up a computer lab with 20 computer systems, which is exactly what they wanted. Not all parents were even paying, about 60% were and everyone got receipts. After the pandemic, there was no question of collecting anything from them. I believe the single parent complained and the government set up an inquiry committee. We didn’t hear back about what was about to happen with the school. After that, we were told that an inquiry is being conducted under Section 20 of the Delhi School Education Act, which is about the acquisition. We answered their queries but did not get any communication from them. Till now, we have not received any communication, I have heard it from journalists earlier,” he stated.
The faculty has about 500 college students and is run by the non-profit society Swami Sivananda Memorial Institute, whose board of trusts are 4 former secretaries with the Government of India. On allegations that the varsity is “failing its students”, Rao stated, “the allegations must be substantiated.”
.
With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
