The School Education Department will soon form teams to identify schools, that were following boards other than Samacheer Kalvi (State Board) in the district. The move is to identify schools that have not applied for recognition.
The State Government had recently moved to regulate all schools of other boards such as Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), Indian Certificate of Secondary Education (ICSE) and International Baccalaureate Board to enforce the Tamil Learning Act of 2006.
Official sources told The Hindu here on Friday that 55 schools following other boards in Coimbatore had submitted letters seeking recognition or additional time. They had submitted ‘Form - I’ containing details such as address, contact numbers, email ids, mobile numbers of the Principal and Correspondents besides the affiliation details. However, officials estimate that there must be several more schools that are yet to apply.
Joint teams comprising officials from School Education Department, Directorate of Elementary Education and Headmasters of Government Higher Secondary Schools would be constituted to identify such schools in Coimbatore.
Schools that are yet to apply for recognition would be warned that they face the threat of closure. Section 18 (1) of the rules framed under the Right To Education (RTE) Act prohibited schools from operating without obtaining recognition from the relevant local authority.
Officials said that till now, these schools do not have to report to the School Education Department.
As a result, State Government officials are not even aware of the total number of such schools or students. They were unable to send any emergency communication such as closure of schools due to rains or monitor the admissions under the RTE Act.
From now on, these schools would also have to obtain recognition every three years, a process that involved getting certification from four Government agencies.
Dual regulationHowever, associations representing private schools following other boards have complained that they now faced dual regulation in which they would have to answer to the regulatory body of their boards such as CBSE and also to the State Government.
