Starved of govt funds,many pvt-aided schools face closure

N S Salim Kumar,general secretary of the Sree Narayana Mandira Samiti,which runs the Sree Narayana Guru High School in Chembur,said the school was on the verge of closing down. “Around 50 per cent of our students belong to socially backward classes and are dependant on this aid. The department had been granting the subsidy every year until April 2007. When a Supreme Court ruling allowing schools to hike fees was passed in 2003,the department started delaying the grant. In 2007,they stopped it completely,” he said.

Kumar added: “When we asked parents to pay fees,they gheraoed teachers and held protests outside the school. We held back salaries of the staff,who went on a strike. We had to take loans from banks and trustees. The department owes us Rs 75 lakh as arrears.”

This October,the Bombay High Court ordered clearance of the arrears of schools,but still the department didn’t pay up. The management of Sree Narayana Guru High School then filed a petition in the court. “According to the HC’s order on December 1,the department was supposed to pay the arrears to us within a week. But till date,there has been no correspondence from them,” Kumar said.

Keshav Samant,trustee of Shardashram Vidyamandir in Dadar,said: “There is no guarantee they will pay our arrears,as they did not follow the court’s order earlier too.”

M H Sawant,director of state Social Welfare and Justice Department,Pune,said: “We have sent a circular to the schools,asking them to send their bills. The matter is in court and I do not wish to comment further.”