In December 2014, Bengaluru had 1,266 unauthorised schools. Over just 13 months, the number has miraculously dwindled to a mere 87.
On Tuesday, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) announced on its website that there are no more than 87 unauthorised private schools in Bengaluru South and Bengaluru North educational districts. In December 2014, the department had announced that there were 1,266 such schools after various three-member committees went to schools and checked their records.
But no action was initiated against the managements of these schools. An Education Department official claimed that the number has plummeted because many of the schools had eventually applied for permission.
“While some of them have been approved, many are yet to be. But we have not included them (in the unauthorised school count) as they have filed applications seeking permission,” a block education officer in the city said.
The officer also pointed out that many of the schools seeking permission to run upper primary classes in English medium were marked “unauthorised” earlier due to the confusion over medium of instruction.
Another official said that per cent of the 1,266 schools had been marked illegal for not registering their pre-primary classes. “Most of them have now done so or are in the process of doing that,” the official said.
However, Mullahalli Suri, president of the parents’ association, alleged that the department had declared as “regularised” several schools that were still illegal. “There is a need to conduct an inquiry to check if the department officials and private school managements are hand-in-glove in this,” he said.
