With Collector M. Karunagaran giving his approval on Saturday, 18 more primary and nursery schools in the district that have not obtained recognition as mandated under the Right of Children To Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act were closed down by the Department of School Education.
A total of 12 schools were closed on May 14 for similar violations of norms such not obtaining or failing to renew recognitions.
According to District Elementary Education Officer T. Ganeshamoorthy, only recognised schools would be allowed to function in Coimbatore from the upcoming academic year.
The students in these schools would be shifted to the nearest recognised Government, aided or private school.
All these schools had been served the mandatory three notices in the period in the preceding months pointing out their non-compliance with the RTE Act. As the school managements had not taken any steps to comply, the Directorate of Elementary Education had ordered their closure.
Totally, he said, notices were issued to 124 schools in the district. While many of them had initiated steps to comply with the norms, several have not. Mr. Ganeshamoorthy said that Section 18 (1) of the rules framed under the RTE Act stated that no school other those owned or controlled by the State Government or a local body could function without obtaining a certificate of recognition.
Those schools violating this rule would be levied a penalty of Rs. 1 lakh on the first day of functioning without recognition and Rs. 10,000 for every day from there on.
