Finally,govt approves 5,973 additional divisions in schools

The Maharashtra Rajya Shikshak Parishad (MRSP),the union that led the protest,has welcomed the move.

“This would resolve many problems. As the number of students increased naturally every year due to new admissions or no failures as per the RTE Act,schools had no choice but to increase divisions. These divisions were not approved and the schools could not appoint new teachers. This affected the student-teacher ratio. Some schools did appoint teachers without government approval but they were paid low salaries,” said Anil Bornare,MRSP president.

The GR states that the additional divisions have been approved on unaided basis but an inspection and gradation of these schools will be carried out every year. The schools will be eligible for a 20 per cent grant in the first year and a 20 per cent increase each following year if they are found measuring upto the standards of the education department in these inspections.

A senior official from the school education department said,“Following a demand from teachers and school managements,the director of secondary and higher secondary education on March 25,2011 verified and proposed to give approval to a total of 9,591 divisions in schools across the state.

However,in October 2011,the state government carried out a special students enrollment verification drive,which brought to light many malpractices in these schools like bogus students and appointment of teachers based on that. We cross-checked the report of the education director and the students enrollment verification drive and decided to approve 5,973 divisions for 2012-’13.”

On government aid,the official said,“The inspections and grading will not alone make these schools eligible for grants. It will also depend on the government funds available.”