Proposal to reopen 35 municipal schools under private management to be presented again before education panel

Under its ‘Full School Management with Private Partner Teachers’ (FSMPT) scheme, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) proposes to reopen schools that were shut down two years ago, and allow private partners to manage them.

The civic administration has suggested that a proposal, to reopen 35 municipal schools under the management of private partners, be amended and presented again. The proposal had been rejected twice before. Under its ‘Full School Management with Private Partner Teachers’ (FSMPT) scheme, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) proposes to reopen schools that were shut down two years ago, and allow private partners to manage them.

These 35 municipal schools had shut down due to declining number of students. On November 21, 2017, the Education Committee of the BMC had rejected the proposal to reopen the schools with the help of private organisations. Another proposal, to provide 25 per cent reservation quota for public representatives, was also rejected last week. The Education Committee did, however, agree to a 10 per cent quota for representatives, including MPs, MLAs and MLCs.

Former chairperson of the Education Committee and Shiv Sena Corporator, Shubhada Gudekar, suggested that corporators should also be included in the proposal. She had said the proposal should be presented again after amendments are made to it. However, this week, Shiv Sena’s Mangesh Satamkar was elected chairman of the Education Committee. So, now, the matter will be tabled before him.

Some corporators rejected the proposal, saying they were against “privatisation” of the schools. Some others opposed the plan, saying it would result in Marathi medium schools being converted to English medium.

The Education Department, in 2016, officially closed down 35 schools across Mumbai, and its students were transferred to other schools in their vicinity.

Mahesh Palkar, BMC education officer, said, “These schools were already closed due to low enrolment; there was
no teaching there. We just formally closed them on paper, so that school documents pertaining to students and teachers could be officially shifted over to the amalgamated school.”

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