Pre-schools are mushrooming in the city and a majority of those do not have the mandatory licence, sources in the Education Department say.
Pre-schools are being set up without permissions from the education and other departments concerned and these schools are also burning holes in the pockets of parents by charging hefty fees.
It may be recalled that in September,2017, a three-year-old boy, K. Gowtham died after a part of the sunshade of a pre-school building at Visalakshinagar fell on him when he was playing on the premises. During the investigations, the Education Department had found that the pre-school was running illegally and took a decision to keep a check on such malpractice. Though almost one-and-a-half year has passed, it appears no substantial measure has been initiated to check the malpractice. “A group of people form a team and set up a pre-school. All they do is that they paint cartoons on the walls and post advertisement for admission. Parents too do not check whether pre-schools have license,” an official from Education Department says.
No Objection Certificate
Further, getting children admitted to pre-schools costs a bomb as a majority of them are charging at least ₹20,000. The schools hire educated housewives as teachers and staff.
Sources in Fire Department say that most of the pre-school managements do not even apply for the mandatory No Objection Certificate (NOC) and the institutions are running from old buildings.
