The high-power committee of the United Democratic Front on Tuesday gave up the plan for sanctioning new higher secondary schools in the State in the current academic year, following strong objection by Finance Minister K.M. Mani with regard to the huge financial burden on the State exchequer. The lack of clarity on the norms for sanctioning new schools suggested by the Education Department also prompted the UDF leadership to give up the move.
However, the UDF recommended need-based sanctioning of higher secondary batches during the current academic year. It also decided to conduct a detailed study on the requirements of schools ahead of the academic year.
The entire issue had been considered by a Cabinet subcommittee comprising Excise Minister K. Babu, Water Resources Minister P.J. Joseph and Education Minister P.K. Abdul Rabb. The subcommittee had tossed it to the UDF for a political decision on giving permission to 6,000-odd schools on account of the financial burden that the government would have to incur. The fact that nearly 2,000 teachers appointed previously had to be regularised also weighed against the decision.
There were apprehensions that the method of selecting 600 schools would lead to controversies since there was a lack of clarity in the norms, especially with regard to standards to be observed while sanctioning schools, especially to private managements
