NEW DELHI: School associations are not taking the news of the takeover of Maxfort School—stayed for now—well. They see this as yet another provocation from a government that has already taken an adversarial stand toward private schools in the capital and say things are “volatile” right now.
“It will demoralize the other private schools in the city. This is the first time in history that such a thing has happened,” says S K Bhattacharya who heads Action Committee for Unaided Recognised Private Schools. Managements are now hoping that the court will decide favourably.
As per the Delhi School Education Act and Rules 1973, the “administrator”— Lieutenant Governor of Delhi — will “manage” the school through an “authorized officer”. The school can be taken over for three years, extendable to a maximum of five. The private management can make an appeal after three months of takeover and the school may be restored to the original management. Although, Bhattacharya argues this is the first time a private unaided school has been taken over, education activists, as well as department officials, assure that it has happened many times before. Some have been taken over and restored as well.
A takeover doesn’t convert a private school into a government one. The service conditions of teachers will not change; nor will any of the educational facilities. But, as Section 20 says, “the school fund, the pupil’s fund and the management fund, and any other existing fund” will be spent for the school by the authorized officer. No resolution of the management will be implemented without the LG’s approval.
Apart from the issue of fund mismanagement, the takeover order mentions a number of reasons that’ll alarm private schools. A major reason is an alleged failure to implement the 25% EWS/DG reservation. The unpopular 20% reservation, a condition of the lease agreement in the case of unaided schools on government land is another. As one private school principal says, “Things are very volatile right now. The government’s attitude and disposition are well-known. But we are hoping for favourable judgement from the court.” There are cases on fee increase and books and uniform for EWS/DG kids in court right now.
