Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Even as Jabalpur district administration has taken a firm stand against profiteering practices of private schools, the administrative officials in Bhopal seem to remain nonchalant.
The contrasting approaches between Jabalpur and Bhopal administration highlight a significant administrative failure in the state capital, where regulatory enforcement is conspicuously absent, leaving parents at the mercy of unregulated school policies.
The state government had previously mandated that schools submit their prescribed fees, syllabuses, and book details online. However, compliance in Bhopal has been dismal, with only a fraction of schools adhering to this directive. Although guidelines and deadlines are regularly issued by the Bhopal administration, enforcement on the ground is virtually nonexistent, leaving many schools flouting regulations with impunity.
The state government has implemented Madhya Pradesh Private School (Fee and Related Matters Regulation) Act 2017 and Rules-2020 to address the issue of unnecessary fee hikes by private schools annually.
The recent guideline issued by the Bhopal DEO was on March 31, where it was mandated for the school to submit the audit report, but out of the 350 plus schools only approximately 50 have submitted the report.
Following the mandate for schools to submit their details, the DEO was tasked with inspecting all the schools. However, both the DEO and the schools have largely ignored this order. When Free Press spoke to the district education officer, Anjani Kumar Tripathi, he said, 'We are making a list of the schools, but we can't disclose anything as of now. We are going to take strict action against the schools.'
'We have submitted a letter to the collector regarding the arbitrary actions of private schools, outlining our demands and calling for strict action. The steps taken by the Jabalpur administration were the result of our prolonged efforts to address these issues, and we are confident that the Bhopal administration will soon take similar measures'. -- Prabodh Pandya, Palak Mahasangh general secretary
