REWA memorandum asks for recognition of schools under RTE act

CHANDIGARH: After notices from education department and Municipal corporation Rural Education Welfare Association (REWA) submitted a memorandum to MP Kirron Kher's office to solve the problems of unrecognized private schools in rural areas. Heads of unrecognized schools stated in the memorandum that education department should recognize rural private schools for primary education under Right to Education Act 2009.
The memorandum was submitted to Uma Kant Tiwari, personal assistant of Kirron Kher, MP, regarding the problems faced by private schools in rural areas.Tiwari assured them of discussing the matter with the MP.
VB Kapil, president, REWA said that private schools in rural areas of Chandigarh region have been actively contributing in primary education. People living in rural areas show more trust in these low cost schools. These schools have been in operation for the past 20 years, but they are being neglected by the Education Department, which is a cause of concern. If we talk about Right to Education scheme, these schools provide almost all basic facilities to the students. As per the data, around 91 private schools in Chandigarh rural areas have been providing education to around 20,000 children.
"When the schools applied for recognition from the Education Department of Chandigarh, many of them got inspected. The Education Department officials themselves found the schools in good shape. But these are yet to be recognized under the Right to Education Act 2009. There is a demand to recognize the schools on the lines of Punjab," members said.
Kapil said that land has not been allotted to these rural schools. The operators of the schools say that they have been providing quality education for the past several years. Contributing to literacy, children of economically poor sections are also getting education for many years. Most of the teachers are trained. If the administration stops these schools, the teachers may loose employment. In that case, all the investment done on the infrastructure would also go waste besides the education of the children. If there any deficiencies in these schools, they should be given proper time to fulfill the requirements.
Kapil said that the officials of the administration should consider their demands. Due to wrong decision taken by the education department towards private schools in rural areas, there will be an adverse effect on the society. The policy of closing schools operated in backward areas was absolutely wrong. The government should give special status to these schools and try to uplift them.
Those who were present on this occasion included Jaswinder Kaur, Pradeep Sharma, DS Arora, Vijay Sharma, Sanjeev Joshi, Lakhan Singh, Surinder Kumar, Arun Gautam, Ashok Rana, Harsharan Singh, Pradeep Shukla, Daljit Singh, Suman and Anita.