Bangalore:
A survey of schools in Bengaluru, conducted by the Department of Public Instruction, has found that over 1,000 schools in the city have violated various rules. Most of those violations are over running classes for which they reportedly don't have the requisite permission.
Mohammed Mohsin, Commissioner for Public Instruction, said, "We have found that nearly 1,200 schools are running illegally. They have taken permission for running classes 1 to 5 but are running till class 10. We have published the list (of such schools) on the website. My request to all parents will be that whenever you are going for school admissions, please check the status of the school, whether they have got the required license and authorisation."
Another issue, said Mr Mohsin, was that schools which only had permission to operate Kannada medium schools were running English-medium schools. The department has now issued notices to these schools.
But the management of such schools blame the state government and the alleged delay in taking crucial decisions.
PM Sathyanaraya, Vice-President of the School Management Association, said, "All the unauthorised schools are created by the Department's slow decision on the language policy. Already, this matter is in court. And until the court decides on the matter, they (the government) cannot say these are unauthorised schools. "
But in a decision that will bring relief to the thousands of students enrolled in these schools, the government may not take any action this academic year.
Mr Mohsin said, "After we receive the reply from them (the school management), we are going to see what type of violations have been committed. At present, we can't disturb them because the future of 10,000 to 20,000 students is at stake. But my request to the school management is they regularise (their irregularities). If not, we may close such schools for the next academic year."